RAW - The road to FASTLANE begins - 2.18.19

[GD]

Black is here!

[Emperor Smeat]

:n: at using a generic NXT nameplate for Black's entrance.

[RP]

Aleister fights for the 9-5'ers now? OK.

[Evil Vito]

Literally ZERO reaction Aleister Black's theme hitting.

I hope WWE never run this arena again.

[Dark One]

Doing way too much "telling" versus showing tonight with these new guys. Although I guess there's not much else they can do when they call up 47 people at once.

[slik]

Crowd seems interested in Aleister

[Emperor Smeat]

Doing way too much "telling" versus showing tonight with these new guys. Although I guess there's not much else they can do when they call up 47 people at once.

To be fair, that's pretty much WWE's standard routine with the bulk of their callups. They barely know how to handle the ones they don't mess off right at the start.

[tman220]

Lacy Evans vs Asuka at Wrestlemania

[Blonde Moment]

Lacy Evans vs who?

[slik]

Lacy Evans vs Asuka at Wrestlemania

I actually expect this tbh

[slik]

Let's go Aleister!

[tman220]

I think all the previous call ups will be on SDL

[rez]

Elias and Renee are fucking! You heard it here first

[slik]

restholds

[Dark One]

Well this is one way to debut somebody.

[Droford]

I wanna see Black vs Mcintyre at WM

partially cause I dont know who else Drew could wrestle that hasnt been beaten like a dead horse

[Droford]

WWE stands for sleep with elias

[Dark One]

Props for taking the Black Mass right to the face

[GD]

Why is Black debuting in a competitive match instead of a squash?

[GD]

Seth Rollins’ demonic brother, Maggle!

[Droford]

Is it safe to say maybe EC3 might be SDL since they didn't do anymore Dean with him?

throw him over there with Baszler and Dream..id be happy

solves the Whos ready for Auska problem

[KIRA]

Why is Black debuting in a competitive match instead of a squash?

Stupid stupid 50/50 booking it did the same thing to Asuka

[Droford]

ruby with the jobber entrance

[RP]

Damn they cheated us out of Liv Morgan's whore entrance.

[Droford]

Deja Ru..by

[xrodmuc316]

I want the entire Wrestlemania pre-show to just be Zero Fucks Dean Ambrose and R-Truth doing improv.

I would love that more than words can describe.

[rez]

worst main event planned ever

[slik]

Good debut for Black, easy to identify character for casuals

Wonder how long until someone 'complains' about him being Satanic and WWE modifies his gimmick

[slik]

Give Ronda back the Sonya Blade gear

[Droford]

I think with Ambrose theyre hinting at Amnesia angle

Lost in Cleveland 2

[Droford]

WWE really needs the raw over run back if just for mania season..but anyway

[Emperor Smeat]

Can't tell if Ronda is wearing a half mini shirt on her back or if that is actually part of her sports bra.

[Dark One]

Main eventing Raw with a rematch of a match that lasted 60 seconds.

That's... certainly... a thing you could do.

[Emperor Smeat]

Pretty cool spear by Ruby

[xrodmuc316]

Ya and the first promo earlier Heyman said he slaughtered everyone he faced in the UFC, but he didnt. He lost to Frank Mir, Allistar Overeem, Cain Velasquez and did steroids and had his win overturned against Mark Hunt.

To be fair, he kicked Mir's ass then made a rookie mistake and got caught in a knee lock. The rematch he utterly destroyed Mir.

The Mark Hunt thing was weird cause he didn't actually get popped for roids, he got popped for some estrogen supplement. Granted, those are taken after a cycle of roids, so he is definitely guilty of juicing, but it's just silly that what he actually got busted for was woman hormones lol. Point to all that is I think he took the fight on short notice and got off the juice, and he handled Mark Hunt fairly easily in that match. I am just not sure how much if any that win was performance enhanced.

Allistar and Cain definitely beat his ads though.

[rez]

Ronda has very healthy looking skin

[Droford]

we need <strike>Stone Cold</strike> the man to show up

[rez]

One Night in Liv

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Big spear by Ruby Riott<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RAW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RAW</a> <a href="https://t.co/P1UsvxAg0s">pic.twitter.com/P1UsvxAg0s</a></p>&mdash; GIF Skull - #RAW Oh! (@GIFSkull) <a href="https://twitter.com/GIFSkull/status/1097706761044164609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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[Droford]

ronda never jump off the top again plz

[xrodmuc316]

Ok that turnbuckle spot was really cool

[Emperor Smeat]

Ronda's lucky she didn't injure herself with that fish flop of a splash to the outside.

[RP]

What a bad Raw

[slik]

I thought Ruby vs Ronda was a good match

[KIRA]

Much better showing by Ruby

Cool finish

[Droford]

Ronda's lucky she didn't injure herself with that fish flop of a splash to the outside.

leap of flop

[Damndirty]

Is it just habit I don't pay attention to women's matches? WWE is to blame, damn them! No more bra and panties!

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fantastic reversal by <a href="https://twitter.com/RondaRousey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RondaRousey</a>! <a href="https://t.co/f0VgjXlnsG">pic.twitter.com/f0VgjXlnsG</a></p>&mdash; TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) <a href="https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/1097707673070514177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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[Damndirty]

Although I do like Nia, but maybe it's because I dig fat chicks.

[RP]

You know why RAW was bad? Alexa Bliss was not on RAW tonight. FUCK YOU VINCE!

[Damndirty]

Considering their current state of making Alexa the face of the company (or it seems to be the case), that was probably not a wise move to exclude her from the show.

[Dark One]

Although I do like Nia, but maybe it's because I dig fat chicks.

Get out.

[Damndirty]

She's still no Bertha Faye!

[Evil Vito]

Shit, all of tonight's call-ups got added to the Current Superstars page on the website, where EC3, Heavy Machinery, etc already were.

Guess the call ups really are all permanent :( better enjoy the next month and a half of NXT

[Damndirty]

I'm very curious as to how EC3 is going to play out on the main roster, being pretty much the last thing TNA had going for them.

[Evil Vito]

Another thing with them jumping the gun on call-ups, I feel like this also kills a lot of intrigue around the post-Mania Raw and SmackDown. WWE have gotten everybody accustomed to new debuts happening on those shows, and if nothing else they'd have all gotten huge reactions in front of those crowds rather than the dead silence they were greeted with tonight. Unless they've got concrete Mania plans for these guys, I don't see the point in calling them all up early.

[Emperor Smeat]

Shit, all of tonight's call-ups got added to the Current Superstars page on the website, where EC3, Heavy Machinery, etc already were.

Guess the call ups really are all permanent :( better enjoy the next month and a half of NXT

Wonder if they are also getting the same cross-brand treatment till WWE actually comes up with real plans for them. Right now in terms of apperances, its leaning way too heavy on the RAW side for both callup groups.

[Stickman]

There were too many promos and commercials, it completely destroys the flow of the show.

[Emperor Smeat]

Just finished watching everything I missed earlier and outside of the surprise NXT debuts and matches, felt like another filler and skippable RAW with the added bonus of a very bored crowd.

Cole is also still terrible at hyping up NXT callups and debuts.

[Vastardikai]

Maybe the crowd is bored because WWE is A. throwing a bunch of shit at the wall hoping that something sticks, B. not good at promoting stars anymore, and C. conditioned the fans into thinking that only the old stars matter.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So this is my advice to <a href="https://twitter.com/alexmarvez?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alexmarvez</a> Watch Raw, study how the announcers are calling this show tonight and never do any of it. <a href="https://t.co/rSF1ueSp1D">https://t.co/rSF1ueSp1D</a></p>&mdash; Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) <a href="https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/1097706961045413888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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[SlickyTrickyDamon]

What is going to happen to NXT? They just lost two of their champions.

no

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Crowd should be arrested for imitating a wrestling crowd.

[GD]

no?

[slik]

https://i.postimg.cc/Dym5cnnm/WWE-Monday-Night-Raw-2019-02-18-720p-HDTV-x264-NWCHD-mp4-snapsho.jpg

[Fignuts]

Crowd was fucking god awful

[Tom Guycott]

While Corey might be a huge douche... He just redeemed himself by finally calling out so and so "LOVES TO HAVE FUN"

"like to have fun"

"Does anybody on earth not love to have fun?!"

"Uhhh... well... some people? ...good point, Corey."

I'm catching up on RAW right now. Just got to this part, and had to see if anyone here made mention of that. Glad to see I haven't been disappointed. About as good as AEW addressing the "T-shirt Company" thing. Two wrestling funnies in one day!

[Tom Guycott]

Damn, wish Jason Jordan was still around...

He dead

Porkchop Jones ONLY!

[Tom Guycott]

Chad Gable needs a surfer gimmick

No he doesn't. If he had that, he'd be Matt Riddle.

[slik]

Cole is also still terrible at hyping up NXT callups and debuts.

Not sure why WWE thought the best way to debut NXT stars was to have Michael Cole sound like he was reading off some marketing pamphlet for each.


"Aleister Black is moody"


No, he's not. His emotions are all contained and he is in a meditative state of violence....Like, right off the bat, WWE screws up a 'should be easy to translate from nxt to main roster' star...

"He is so moody, ohhhh my"

[slik]

Crowd was fucking god awful

THIS.

I have seen this crowd blasted like no other on here, twitter, wrestling news sites, reddit, etc. Really one of the worst crowds ever. I would advise against giving them live tv again.

[slik]

Former WWE writer showing it's not always Vince's faults when things suck


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This Heavy Machinery segment is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen</p>&mdash; Kazeem Famuyide (@RealLifeKaz) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealLifeKaz/status/1097684866450317312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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[slik]

Another former writer w/ a better perspective


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tonight’s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Raw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Raw</a> is a glaring example of Vince breaking his own rules. He used to tell our creative team (12 yrs ago) “don’t tell me facts, tell me a story.” Well those intros read by Cole and ice cold debuts had absolutely no story at all. Just facts. Just fucking lazy.</p>&mdash; Andrew Goldstein (@AngeGold) <a href="https://twitter.com/AngeGold/status/1097698880257511425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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[Emperor Smeat]

Not sure why WWE thought the best way to debut NXT stars was to have Michael Cole sound like he was reading off some marketing pamphlet for each.


"Aleister Black is moody"


No, he's not. His emotions are all contained and he is in a meditative state of violence....Like, right off the bat, WWE screws up a 'should be easy to translate from nxt to main roster' star...

"He is so moody, ohhhh my"

That pretty much tells me that nobody important in WWE watches NXT or follows it if that is one of the first things to come to mind for Aleister Black.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Fucking sick of hearing this crowd shat on. It’s their job to get the crowd psyched. The company didn’t do it and the workers didn’t do it. No one is obliged to enjoy your shitty product, you entitled wankers.

[Mr. Nerfect]

What are they supposed to do? Get really excited because Johnny Gargano is here? Who the fuck cares? Even if you did, you know how it’s going to end up. The only thing I blame them for is actually paying money to go to a WWE show. But maybe their kids dragged them or something?

[Bad News Gertner]

So wait, Elimination Chamber isn't the last PPV until Wrestlemania?

[slik]

lol nope they have another in 3 weeks and then a 4 week build to WM

[Bad News Gertner]

Lol Jesus Christ

[Tom Guycott]

Fucking sick of hearing this crowd shat on. It’s their job to get the crowd psyched. The company didn’t do it and the workers didn’t do it. No one is obliged to enjoy your shitty product, you entitled wankers.

It was a little deader than "this sucks". It was almost like most of the crowd was too busy live streaming that they were there to actually watch the show. Even something that's borderline annoying in "YOU DESERVE IT!!" sounded sad, because it sounded like three people who were reacting to shit tried to start the chant wholeheartedly, and the rest of the crowd was like "oh, we're chanting now? eh, okay. you deserve it."

I'm not being an apologist for the BS portions of the show - and there was a lot of that - but they barely reacted to anything in any way. Sparse pops, sparse boos, and there were a lot of audible spots called because it was like a Japanese crowd in there, but without the baited breath and actual reactions to stuff when they happened.

This was a complete 180 from something like, say, the traditional post 'mania crowd that reacts to every-fucking-thing. These people reacted to nothing. It was like they paid money just to say they were there that night as an excuse to take the next day off of work instead of actually wanting to be there.

[Emperor Smeat]

So wait, Elimination Chamber isn't the last PPV until Wrestlemania?

They added another in between Rumble and Mania when they brought back the Brand Split and brand exclusive PPVs. At the time it made sense since technically it was still 1 event per brand during this period.

Once they dropped brand exclusive PPVs, they didn't bother to also get rid of this extra event.

[Mr. Nerfect]

What was worth reacting to though? If reactions are genuine, people are going to give in to flow of a show. It's not up to audiences to force excitement out of the front of their faces if their phones are more interesting. Be better workers and get people captivated by what you're doing. Be better bookers and stop sending the very clear message that this shit doesn't matter.

The fans are way down on the list of people to blame when your show sucks and struggles to get over. Crowds can be shit and annoying, but so many people need to cut out the entitlement just because a few of these people matter to about 300,000 people in NXT.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

no?

Appearing on Raw doesn't mean they are fully done with NXT.