Noid actually watches Official Raw Thread

[Emperor Smeat]

So after teasing for the past 2-3 weeks about the vicious creature inside Rowan's cage, they didn't bother to do anything with it this week.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Rowan's finish is really cool.

[Evil Vito]

Erick Rowan got to have The Rock's last match. 6 seconds.

Erick Rowan.

[rez]

Not sure there's an endgame to Rowan's cage. It'll probably disappear soon

[Jordan]

I think Edge will reveal what is inside Rowan's cage and finally face him one on one in a dream match in the main event of Wrestlemania.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Edge going to save this third hour in the ratings.

[Jordan]

Just out of curiosity does anyone know if Joey Styles still works for WWE?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think it'll be his sheep mask.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Just out of curiosity does anyone know if Joey Styles still works for WWE?

Nah, he left and did some commentary but got dropped because he made a joke about grabbing people by the pussy.

[Droford]

Needs more Chimel

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[Evil Vito]

I expect Orton to RKO Edge here

It'd technically be another heel turn only a short while after turning face, but he's better as a heel anyway. And he's gotten to the point where he's evolved beyond being a heel or face, he's simply a cocky prick who goes after whoever he wants.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Wonder if the Mandy Rose/Otis/Sonya stuff on SmackDown leads to Mandy Rose revealing that she's banging Tino Sabbatelli?

[Evil Vito]

Jesus, Edge looks even older in the face tonight

But he looks badass in his gear so it's all good

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned United States champion Andrade has been suspended for violating WWE's Wellness Policy. <a href="https://t.co/NKrViIUB7H">https://t.co/NKrViIUB7H</a></p>&mdash; Pro Wrestling Sheet (@WrestlingSheet) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestlingSheet/status/1222004752847790080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: at the crowd booing the Roman Reigns name drop

[RP]

Edge spends 9 years on the bench, comes in and cuts a better promo than 95% of the current WWE stars.

[Sepholio]

Oof Andrade.

[RP]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned United States champion Andrade has been suspended for violating WWE's Wellness Policy. <a href="https://t.co/NKrViIUB7H">https://t.co/NKrViIUB7H</a></p>&mdash; Pro Wrestling Sheet (@WrestlingSheet) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestlingSheet/status/1222004752847790080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Charlotte is next.

[Sepholio]

Aw man dont cry Edge damnit now im gonna cry

[Evil Vito]

Makes sense now why Andrade was written off but they usually punish these guys by having them drop the belt.

[rez]

Christian is probably all like..son of a bitch

[Sepholio]

Oof it's gonna be rough every time Edge sells a neck injury for a while. And he's still really good at it.

[RP]

Charlotte had track marks on her arm.

Now Andrade gets suspended

[Mr. Nerfect]

Edge is fucking amazing.

[Sepholio]

Overrun is back?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Aw, man, I don't want to see Orton turn right now.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I hope Edge's response is like "I wouldn't have this any other way. Bring it, Randy."

[Droford]

Conchairto

[Emperor Smeat]

Edge probably regrets not bringing Christian with him to take the brunt of this attack instead.

[Evil Vito]

Well there's Edge written off for 6 weeks. See you at Elimination Chamber.

[Sepholio]

Randy gonna play up the legend killer gimmick again?

[Triple A]

That was good

[Jordan]

Disgusting Randy, disgusting.

[Sepholio]

I was kinda hyped at a Rated RKO reunion tbh. Being thrust into a tag team would have given Edge a bit of time to work off any ring rust and see exactly where he is before throwing him back into singles competition.

[Droford]

Well there's Edge written off for 6 weeks. See you at Elimination Chamber.

I feel like AJ and Edge might have wrestled in SA ifvhe hadn't got hurt

[Mr. Nerfect]

Alright, that is a money angle.

[Jordan]

Edge's promo was great. Really cool to have him back.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Thought Randy was not going to do anything more to Edge, and Edge was going to be "You showing me mercy wasn't the dumbest mistake of your life."

[Jordan]

I hope Raw can be this good for the rest of the season, I'll keep watching. Probably gonna watch Smackdown as well.

[Evil Vito]

I actually think the best part of that segment was that they cut the announcers mics for it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Raw was really great! I don't know if I can watch every week. This takes a lot. But I will chalk this up as a great episode.

I don't like Charlotte being a bitch and promising something and not delivering. The 24/7 stuff, Liv Morgan/Lana and the Erick Rowan stuff was completely skippable. But there was some smart shit in giving you babyfaces you actually want to root for: Drew McIntyre, Rey Mysterio, Alistair Black, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, Humberto Carrillo and Edge. With those pieces all in place, people are going to be way more likely to stick with your show.

There was a big money angle to set up Edge/Orton and they wrote off Andrade in a way that makes sense. Good stuff.

[Emperor Smeat]

Main event segment was pretty great.

RAW itself was also good despite just 2 of the matches being entertaining and the third hour being mostly boring. Managed to flow pretty well till it hit that rough part in the third hour.

Wonder if the AJ Styles vs. Orton Mania tease a few weeks ago was meant to be a backup plan in case WWE got cold feet on the idea of Edge wrestling again or more than once.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I actually think the best part of that segment was that they cut the announcers mics for it.

With those announcers, yes, and they should do it for the whole show. It's a bit awkward watching someone try to cripple Edge and basically no one come out to save him. Think you could have had Humberto, Owens, The Vikings, etc. out there. I dunno, I don't think it was the greatest angle of all-time or anything, but you know what they are going for with that.

[Droford]

I have to wonder what Edge would have done in AEW

Built in he'd have history with Jericho and Cody but after that ??

Glad he stayed with WWE

[Emperor Smeat]

I have to wonder what Edge would have done in AEW

Built in he'd have history with Jericho and Cody but after that ??

Glad he stayed with WWE

Probably something similar to DDP where he shows up once in a while and maybe a match here or there but as part of an existing feud than having one for himself.

[Emperor Smeat]

Apparently the reason for Moss' call-up wasn't because of any real plans they had for him but because they really don't want anyone leaving who could be even a smidgen of use elsewhere outside of rare exceptions.

Moss' 6-year tenure in developmental and NXT was pretty much a big pile of nothing. Like maybe the feud with the Street Profits was the only real memorable thing he did there.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Was told that Riddick Moss' deal was set to expire fairly soon, but they talked him into re-signing. He debuted on WWE Raw tonight. <a href="https://t.co/wrmFVp44MW">https://t.co/wrmFVp44MW</a></p>&mdash; Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1222005887985995776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Sepholio]

Man RAW would be soooo good if it was 2 hours with an overrun.

[Sepholio]

Either way, other than like 45 minutes of filler, that was one of the best RAWs in a LOOOOOOOONG time.

[slik]

Good opener
Red Hot Closer
Everything else a dud

[Tom Guycott]

Because most fans are terrible I fully expect the crowd to turn on Drew shortly after Mania because god forbid anybody ever get behind someone the office is trying to push.

Is it the fans' fault that they book every1 like shit though...

Nope but the second the fans realize the office is behind someone, they will turn. It’s been that way for like 15 years.

Kind of a double edged sword there. When the company gets behind someone that the fans like, there is a tendency to strip away what made the fans get into them in the first place. Cena is a great example. People were behind him when Vince wasn't. When Vince hopped on that train, he slowly transitioned from cool bad boy rulebreaker what does freestyle rapping to Neo Hogan SuperCena who is a generic smiley good guy who never loses.

There is a habit in the last couple of decades to not give any reason why we should care about anyone they decide to push. If they bother to construct one, it's often one dimensional. When that doesn't work, then it's somehow the fans' fault or the wrestler's fault. Never the company for misreading their audience or bad fucking storytelling/world building. For example; Erick Rowan is doing more right now with this Seven-esque "what's in the booooox" gimmick than his initial supposed singles push where he just was supposed to coast off of wearing the sheep mask to sell to the kids and get over on the fact that he makes his own wine in his spare time? The fuck?

The Rock didn't become The Rock just because of a heel turn (which was always one of those oversimplified criticisims about Cena later)... it was that heel turn that started him down the road to transition from one dimensional, force-fed babyface. There started becoming depth beyond just turning on "you people/you fans"; he had a reason for it, which was the backlash from his sustained and shoehorned babyface push. Then, he started becoming an egotistical jerk. Then an egotistical jerk that says funny and memorable shit. And when the fans started getting behind him... they didn't stop making him an egotistical jerk that says funny and memorable shit because babyfaces don't do that. He was still the same asshole as a face, but they allowed him to be a likeable asshole who turned his heelishness towards other heels instead of making him revert back to a bad haircut and grass skirts.

Point is, this is the start of something intresting for Drew, but it has to *stay* interesting. If he gets steamrolled by Brock with no rematch and that's the end of that (like with Samoa Joe and Kofi Kingston), it was a waste. If he changes from intense badass back into 3MB comedy Drew who is made to look stupid and jobs all the time, it will be a waste. If they get it into their heads that the fans only like him because he's winning and goes on a win streak that just takes all the stakes out of everything because they're telegraphing him beating the world in every situation for the next 3 years, it becomes boring and once again, a waste.

Insinuating the fans will just arbitrarily turn on him out of nowhere only on the merits of him finally getting a push is pretty flawed logic.

[slik]

It is not the fans fault, it is the booking's fault

Once they start 'cramming' someone down fans throat and over-scripting their promos and making them 'too strong' the fans turn.



Fans like characters who don't tell us (the audience) they like us or care about us. When someone hosts SNL at the beginning of the show they say "it's great to be here, we have a great show" they don't go on and on waiting for the audience to yell and cheer YOU DESERVE THIS or THANK YOU _________. Wrestling has some weird-ass trajectory where WWE decided EVERYTHING needs to be big and emotional and it feels unnatural and forced.

Just fucking go out there, have a character, put on some good matches and do some kick-ass shit.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Even in the example you give the fans are assholes too.

The willingness to disregard kayfabe means that the fans who still follow this shit care about performances. They will then go into the echo chamber they all share, talk about who their favorites are, and decide that the guys getting the pushes aren't as good as the guys who aren't. They don't factor in things like marketability, backstage attitude, their work ethic, private health conditions, etc. They're still marks, in a sense, but they just respond to different criteria.

WWE are at least anticipating these problems with Drew. This was off to a good stop, and Seth predicting that they will turn on him means that they'll be reluctant to do what they think WWE expects them to do.

Delightfully devilish.

[Droford]

Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler is the plan for WrestleMania, says Wrestling Observer. Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley is not.

Sooo...Charlotte vs Ripley after all..? Charlotte obviously can't challenge her now considering theres a takeover to be done in a couple weeks and if she challenges her now that ruins Ripley/Bel Air since I only see it working as Charlotte vs Ripley.

Bayley gonna get stuck, probably in a Tag Title Match with Sasha vs Auska/Kairi

[Jordan]

WWE fans are assholes out of habit. 20+ years of the same structure for Raw and Smackdown. 20+ years of the same formula for pushing the top face. 20+ years of Authority figures and rebellious stars. 20+ years of matches that mean nothing and results that go absolutely nowhere. If WWE would invest in their own lore, their own stories and angles as much as the audience craves to, then you may see the WWE Universe start to play along. We want to control the outcome because we are so tired of stale product. Still there seems to be enough of a hook to keep a large hardcore audience but eventually the hook pulls through and you take off. I just came back for Rumble, good for them that it was a great show, followed by a very good Raw. I'm excited for Mania season, I just want to take the ride. It would SEEM as though they have some plans laid out this year, some journey to a hopeful satisfying out come for many at Mania.

[Jordan]

On WOR, not a rumor but a Meltzer prediction. He says maybe Charlotte challenges Rousey at Mania, using her Rumble win for the opportunity. Because it's bigger than any title to challenge her. I could see it. I don't think it buries the Championships or whatever, I get it.

[Volare]

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[Emperor Smeat]

On WOR, not a rumor but a Meltzer prediction. He says maybe Charlotte challenges Rousey at Mania, using her Rumble win for the opportunity. Because it's bigger than any title to challenge her. I could see it. I don't think it buries the Championships or whatever, I get it.

Get the idea but that would be a really dumb if they actually did it.

Not only would it devalue the significance of winning the Rumble, it would also devalue the women's belts by not having it be the top prize for Mania. Also would just confirm that WWE only cared about women getting the big spotlight last year solely because they wanted to leech off Ronda's mainstream popularity.

The equivalent would be had a guy won the Rumble while Taker's streak was still active and instead of challenging for a top belt at Mania, they used their Rumble win to challenge Taker instead.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Sooo...Charlotte vs Ripley after all..? Charlotte obviously can't challenge her now considering theres a takeover to be done in a couple weeks and if she challenges her now that ruins Ripley/Bel Air since I only see it working as Charlotte vs Ripley.

Bayley gonna get stuck, probably in a Tag Title Match with Sasha vs Auska/Kairi

No one things BB is getting the belt. It’s more important to NXT to get Charlotte validating it and having a big match against Rhea Ripley. Smart move.

[Jordan]

Get the idea but that would be a really dumb if they actually did it.

Not only would it devalue the significance of winning the Rumble, it would also devalue the women's belts by not having it be the top prize for Mania. Also would just confirm that WWE only cared about women getting the big spotlight last year solely because they wanted to leech off Ronda's mainstream popularity.

The equivalent would be had a guy won the Rumble while Taker's streak was still active and instead of challenging for a top belt at Mania, they used their Rumble win to challenge Taker instead.

It wouldn't have upset me too much if a guy had done that for Taker, and now with NXT on USA on Prime Time, I think the argument could be made that it's not as big of a deal as you said.