RAW ***OFFICIAL THREAD*** Lashley/Roman vs Revival LIVE TONIGHT - 7.2.18

[rez]

Why would you do that to us

To watch the world burn and such

[slik]

It did take a while for Jinder to become a comedy character again though

[Dark One]

"Two ways to describe Roman Reigns... 'Proud Warrior' or 'Egomaniac.'"

Hmm... That seems almost like progress.

[KIRA]

Raw might be worse than Fox News they tell you to make up your own mind about Roman but they don't show the parts where he was out right refusing to tag and Bobby Lashley and show him getting beaten down and then they phrase it as he failed to tag Bobby Lashley

[slik]

MAJOR SPOILER FOR TONIGHT:


Braun Strowman will enter the show with a portapotty on his back.

[Droford]

How did he not see the car

[slik]

Droford there is a guy in the front row in a hat and pinstripes who reminds me of you

[Savio]

"BRA_______MAN"

[slik]

The first time the RAW thread hasn't cracked 9 pages by this time in ages...maybe ever...

[rez]

YEAH! He's in there!

[KIRA]

Seconds into the match already Braun flashing us some nipple

[RP]

lol

[Dark One]

Did they show him getting into the portapotty when I wasn't looking or did the spoilers get out that much?

[RP]

I love the lady standing there acting like this is all normal.

[Droford]

Well..that's close enough

[rez]

I love the lady standing there acting like this is all normal.

hah i know right

[KIRA]

, good old Vince it's good to see that getting older hasn't dulled your love for the five year olds poop joke

[RP]

ROFL almost premature tippage

[Droford]

Strowman vs KO in a porta potty match

[rez]

I don't get businesses that still spring up as, "A-1" to be first in the yellow pages...who uses the yellow pages these days?

[Mr. Nerfect]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Can we all STOP bumping on the edge of the ring please. Chronic spinal problems come one stupid bump at a time. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RAW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RAW</a></p>&mdash; Lance Storm (@LanceStorm) <a href="https://twitter.com/LanceStorm/status/1013971280545005568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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What an old fuddy-duddy. Doesn't get it! The business is evolving. Go shake your fist at clouds, Grandpa.

[Droford]

KO clearly snuck out the back

[Anybody Thrilla]

This is the first thing the crowd has been awake for all night.

[Droford]

Ko just got blued

[Anybody Thrilla]

I don't even...I mean...what are we doing here?

[Savio]

PG

[rez]

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BinWA0EenDY" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Mr. Nerfect]

I like that everybody in this thread sounds basically as pissed off as I am when I catch parts of these shows.

[Emperor Smeat]

Missed the main event match because one of the dogs needed to go outside. Why was Owens covered in blue paint?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Bobby Lashley is a 6'3, 273lbs shredded black dude with a legit background and served in the US military. Of course Vince manages to fuck up promoting that dude for a fight.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Missed the main event match because one of the dogs needed to go outside. Why was Owens covered in blue paint?

Because it's funny! It's like the Nickelodeon slime but blue!

[Mr. Nerfect]

Bobby Lashley has the opportunity to beat up Roman Reigns at Extreme Rules. He gets to beat up Roman Reigns. They could potentially position him as the biggest babyface ever. A SummerSlam match between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley could be established as huge. Now it feels like it would need to rely on everything Lashley has ever been outside the WWE -- which is smaller-scale stuff.

[Anybody Thrilla]

It was in a toilet, too.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Ride Along has Rusev Day and the IIconics, if anyone gives a shit. Hearing Lana speak normally is jarring.

[rez]

Bobby Lashley is a 6'3, 273lbs shredded black dude with a legit background and served in the US military. Of course Vince manages to fuck up promoting that dude for a fight.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/q7kAAOSwC6hatSZG/s-l1600.jpg

I imagine some kid in a 90's movie wished that thing to life and it became Bobby Lashley.

[Emperor Smeat]

It was in a toilet, too.

Wait, there was a port-a-potty nearby?

That just raises even more questions I'm wondering if I even want to know the answers to.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Wait, there was a port-a-potty nearby?

That just raises even more questions I'm wondering if I even want to know the answers to.

It was outside. Kevin was hiding in it. Braun figured it out and taped him inside before dragging the port-a-let to ringside and shoving it off the stage.

[Anybody Thrilla]

The IIconics are playing 'Fuck, Marry, Kill' on this Ride Along.

[slik]

Only logical explanation is the spirit of SD shit in RAW's port a potty

[slik]

How many people is Roman even feuding with right now? Lashley, The Revival, Ziggler, McIntyre, the Raw Management apparatus, the ghost of Brock Lesnar....

At some point, if none of your relationships are working, you're the problem.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lesnar to be playable character in WWE 2K19, but only four times a year: <a href="https://t.co/deeeRKYLin">https://t.co/deeeRKYLin</a></p>&mdash; Kayfabe News (@KayfabeNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/KayfabeNews/status/1013942405563682816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[Mr. Nerfect]

I actually wouldn't mind that as a little gimmick in a game. Makes playing with him far more rewarding.

[Tom Guycott]

Oh I didn't know they were together. That is nice of WWE to let her off to take care of him, wouldn't have expected that.

It's Shawn & Sunny all over again...

[Tom Guycott]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dr. Shelby got a bigger pop than Roman. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RAW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RAW</a></p>&mdash; Jesse (@jckjes7) <a href="https://twitter.com/jckjes7/status/1013945462364229632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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But the real question is if he outpopped DX?

No, really asking, because I haven't seen the show yet. I just now came across a "full show" and not a bunch of WWE sancioned, super abridged clips.

I feel mixed emotions, honestly. I said I hoped for exactly this last week, but it was really in jest because I didn't really think they'd do it. I actually figured they would just use "therapy" as a way to write Bayley off of TV for a couple of weeks until she changed her look and they Nakamura'd her music upon the next Sasha beatdown.


2) Switchblade Bayley will come after the therapy causes Bayley to look deep inside herself to find that there's only a dead coal where her heart used to be.

Bonus if she says exactly that in her promo.

[Tom Guycott]

Pipe dream WWE would never do: Ziggler, Drew, and Revival claiming the mantle of the Horsemen.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I heard that Bayley "snapped" and turned heel or whatever, which is bittersweet. But then I heard she was going to be sent to get therapy or whatever. My first thought was "I hope they just shit all over this and bring back Dr. Shelby." Best character the WWE has introduced in the last six years, but that's not a good thing.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Although watching these segments, they are absolutely awful and character-killing. I cannot believe the WWE wants an Emmy.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh god, I watched the Braun vs. Owens segment. :lol:

[Big Vic]

Although watching these segments, they are absolutely awful and character-killing. I cannot believe the WWE wants an Emmy.

I know right? But I love Shelby and Bayley was getting cheered anyway.

Now-a-days it seems really hard to slow build into a heel turn.








Also, Braun should be forced to go into therapy.

[Dark One]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RAW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RAW</a> <a href="https://t.co/dqYoWHFlsz">pic.twitter.com/dqYoWHFlsz</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1013988218797199361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[Innovator]

in the membrane?

[Anybody Thrilla]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RAW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RAW</a> <a href="https://t.co/dqYoWHFlsz">pic.twitter.com/dqYoWHFlsz</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1013988218797199361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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What is this?

[#1-norm-fan]

WWE attempting comedy.

[Stickman]

Raw has been nearly unwatchable lately. Just terrible stories and bland matches.

[Outsider]

I'm half watching waiting for a segment I'm actually interested in, but it just isn't coming.

I just find myself not caring through the entire show. I just watch out of habit.

If someone like me, who has been watching wrestling for almost twenty years, struggles to watch this stuff, how the hell are casual fans still watching?

[Tom Guycott]

in the membrane?

Don't you know I'm loco????

[Mr. Nerfect]

I know right? But I love Shelby and Bayley was getting cheered anyway.

Now-a-days it seems really hard to slow build into a heel turn.

They have either forgotten or don't know how face/heel dynamics and turns work. Bayley has had her turn, but they are going to try and get too cute by having her tease being better so they can turn her again and no one will care.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm half watching waiting for a segment I'm actually interested in, but it just isn't coming.

I just find myself not caring through the entire show. I just watch out of habit.

If someone like me, who has been watching wrestling for almost twenty years, struggles to watch this stuff, how the hell are casual fans still watching?

There are two answers to this:

1) They're not. The demographics reveal that it's older fans that still watch and keep this thing alive.

2) I think the idea is that younger generations are so used to gentrified and passionless wrestling without any sort of alternative that they accept it. They won't have any framework for what is good or interesting anymore, and they will be easy to cater to, because anything will do.

[#1-norm-fan]

They have either forgotten or don't know how face/heel dynamics and turns work. Bayley has had her turn, but they are going to try and get too cute by having her tease being better so they can turn her again and no one will care.

Sounds like Orton-Rollins all over again. Remember when Orton got curb stomped and then made his return like a one man wrecking crew to get revenge on Rollins and then he just... re-joined The Authority so he could turn face again? It's crazy how the simplest storytelling is like brain surgery to them.

[#1-norm-fan]

It's like they wanna hotshot everything but also go with a mind-numblingly slow burn at the same time. It doesn't make sense.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Sounds like Orton-Rollins all over again. Remember when Orton got curb stomped and then made his return like a one man wrecking crew to get revenge on Rollins and then he just... re-joined The Authority so he could turn face again? It's crazy how the simplest storytelling is like brain surgery to them.

That is exactly the example that kept creeping into my brain. In the world of wrestling, it makes perfect sense for Orton to come back as a total bad-ass looking for Seth's head to put in a spike. Instead they do that Freudian mind games shit that they apparently thought was so good they'd bring it back for his feud with Wyatt. It dilutes the fan reaction. They think that their stories are "complex," when they actually just diffuse all dramatic tension instead of blowing it up.

It's sad they've gotten Bayley to the point where they've had to turn her, anyway. I'm not her biggest fan, and there are obvious holes in her game (big ones, actually), but the goodwill with the niche live audiences was there. You book around her and try and tell a story of her needing to adjust to the main roster -- the sort of stuff they are giving to Ronda Rousey now to take away her bad-ass edge. She really should have been a babyface for YEARS until they get to the point where her heel turn is genuinely shocking and should have been comparable, if obviously not as big, to the Hulk Hogan heel turn. "Good Girl Gone Bad" should have been a teaser on magazine covers after she turned. Instead it's just another failed NXT gimmick switching allegiance. And then they try and throw a wet blanket over that the following week.

[Tom Guycott]

.... You book around her and try and tell a story of her needing to adjust to the main roster -- the sort of stuff they are giving to Ronda Rousey now to take away her bad-ass edge. She really should have been a babyface for YEARS until they get to the point where her heel turn is genuinely shocking and should have been comparable, if obviously not as big, to the Hulk Hogan heel turn. "Good Girl Gone Bad" should have been a teaser on magazine covers after she turned. Instead it's just another failed NXT gimmick switching allegiance. And then they try and throw a wet blanket over that the following week.

This is one of the problems with current WWE main roster writing. It's almost like they're trolling their paying customers - network OR live event - by making characters do shit they've already established they wouldn't or shouldn't do, ESPECIALLY if the person was in NXT. And only rarely does it work... but then you have to worry about them just abandoning it mid-stride.


How dare you keep watching our shit! We'll show you!

[Mr. Nerfect]

They think what they do is good storytelling. It isn't. It's bad.