Excellent show.

Amazing journey to get the belt on Roman. In the end, WWE proves they know what their doing when it comes to creating new stars. Hope this whole saga shuts a lot of people on here up for a while.

Are we taking bets on the ratings? What happens if they hit a new low especially in the 3rd hour?

WWE would like to wish Sheamus the best in his future endeavors.

Goddamn, they really had Reigns' journey to the title come to a head on Raw. Between that and Vince, they went all fucking out. This should be good for a one week ratings spike. They can't depend on major title changes every week though. Now it just comes down having to book with some attention to detail. I'm already dreading the "SHEAMUS HAS JUST PINNED THE WORLD CHAMPION OMGZZZ!!!" ending to Raw in the next week or two.

I'm more okay with this in a post-Network world than in a PPV-era. I think you can get away with that on a rare or semi-regular basis now that you're not buying a $50-60 show and you're buying a $10 pass to a ton of shows and a major "event" with extended matches per month.

You still got a major angle and some big matches last night, but you got another major moment and angle tonight on "free" TV. If this were like TNA five or six years ago where they were solely using their $50 show to make you watch the weekly show next week, then you have a problem. I think with the Network making major shows available at any time, you need to have big things happen on the regular weekly shows to keep people engaged.

It doesn't have to be a world title change or SHOCKING RETURN every week, but it's nice to have that here and there.

But yeah, Sheamus probably gets his win back tomorrow on SD.

KICKOUT AT TWO

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I'm fine with it because making Raw not be the drizzling shits is the most important thing right now. It's worth taking a major moment away from a PPV every once in a while to accomplish that and make it seem like something might actually happen on an episode of Raw.

Big E with the savagery.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jim <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEUsos">@WWEUsos</a> can do whatever he likes but it doesn't change the fact that I was rubbing asses w/ his wife on TV. He can't take that from me.</p>&mdash; ShinigamE (@WWEBigE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEBigE/status/676626249377280000">December 15, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Urgh, seriously? Reigns is just terrible.

This screams like a complete WCW move by blowing the 'big win' on TV, but at least they haven't got another company to battle agains't. (although battling rating losses is pretty much the same thing)

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Just seems too force-fed to me.

Like really, lets rehash a storyline from our recent past and feed the audience with that. They'll be okay with it. Come on. This is pathetic.

I kinda figured that Roman was going to end up with the belt anyway at the Rumble. I think Rollins going down with the injury is what made this happen faster, tbh. I'm still looking at Lesnar coming in and winning the Rumble setting up Reigns/Lesnar 2 at WM. If Rollins can recover by Mania, which I know is unlikely but could still be possible, I can definitely see a Reigns/Lesnar/Rollins legit Triple Threat match because both Lesnar & Rollins have axes to grind in regards to the way their championship runs ended.

The only way that Roman will be successful in any type of title run is he will need to pull off a damn good character turn. Not just the heel/face aspect, but his delivery, action & reactions all need to change. He can't be the Roman Reigns of The Shield....not the muscle guy, not the enforcer he's been this entire time. Nobody buys that.

I thought the writers created a compelling character with Roman "Gives No Fucks" Reigns last night at TLC. Having him win the belt the following night now makes him give fucks again, cuz he's the champion. Seems like Reigns could have benefitted from a month of vigilante attacks and "gives no shit" trespassing until The Authority was forced to grant him a rematch at Royal Rumble. Also gives time to develop a change in character that the audience can get behind.

I mean, lets face it. Roman was most cheered in The Shield because he was kicking ass and tearing people apart without qualm. Sometimes, it's pretty simple.

That said, I'll reserve judgment till I see how they treat his title run. If it's back to the same formulaic "stack the deck against Roman, but he overcomes the odds" bit they do with every face, then it'll be clear that they've learned nothing and have simply had a positive blip for one week.

It isn't so much that, rockman... he can still be the stoic badass. After all, his mic work has only gotten marginally better since the infamous NXT promo, and he still seems like he doesn't even buy his own hype.

His push to the top was inevitable. Even being champ now is easier to swallow than it would hage been at 'Mania. Just need to chill out with the Cena 2.0 business. Let him be his own man.

I know better, but it would be great if he were being kayfabe groomed for a heel turn. Hunter slowly makes him see things his way, in time for a returning Seth Rollins to be butthurt he was replaced as "the future". Wishful thinking, though. They've wanted him to be the top face for so long now, they bypassed at least 3 heel turn "gimmie" moments they may have had.

The only way this isn't going to go flat fast is if they don't make him SuperReigns. He doesn't have to be "kid friendly superhero" to be a fan favorite.

More Meng, less Sting.

If anybody's interested:

http://www.wwe.com/classics/classic-...on-raw/page-16

I like reading your opinions mate and don't think you should get as much flak as you do, but saying this really is ridiculous.

He was booked terribly for a year and there have been some amazingly bad RAWS, a terrible big four PPV in Survivor Series and a loss of interest in the product in general during that time (although you deny this, agree to disagree).

This is a change of approach and a welcome, intelligent one, which they deserve credit for, but this only came after many missteps and mistakes with his character over the last year.

It is also only two shows in to this change and we should all wait and see before deciding that the issues have changed in the long term.

Before I thought that you just had an interesting, albeit blinkered vision of the product, but this post makes me feel like you have been trolling all along to get a reaction, which disappoints me.

Ummm, so Reigns is the champ now?

Yea

"This whole saga" lol. Reigns has been watchable for one week, of a one-year build. Now he has to be watchable week after week. It's something that guys like Cesaro do week-in and week-out, but isn't "good enough" to be a top star.

Don't get me wrong, Raw was actually pretty decent this week (first time I've said that in over a year), and Reigns winning the title was an unpredictable surprise. But don't use this one "Reigns title win payoff" as a "there, I was right all along", because it was one good Raw out of 52. WWE still has a HUGE problem with it's writing and the depth of it's roster. Reigns winning the title with a Philly crowd behind him doesn't change that.

And as soon as Cena gets back, Reigns will be back to being #2, or #3 if Lesnar is around.

<font color=goldenrod>I didn't watch Raw for the 4th week in a row as I still have very little interest in the product (and was watching MNF this week), but that sounds like it was a fun main event. Maybe they've actually figured out the right way to get the crowd behind Roman, because he's been cringe worthy for most of the year. Just let him be a no-nonsense badass.

Still not sure I can bring myself to sit through 3+ hours of Raw every week as it remains to be seen if they can sustain an interesting show every week, particularly with Reigns. If he comes out next week and cuts another tater tot promo and everyone will be back to shitting on him.</font>

Raw was pretty decent. I got through it all in about an hour and a half, which is a nice change from the usual ten minutes it takes.

Still, last week was probably the WORST Raw in years, and tonight was probably the best one this year. WWE still has a lot of work to do.

Well, as Reigns Superman Punched Vince last night in the main event before spearing Sheamus for the 1-2-3, there's already speculation that he may be stripped of the belt next week. Personally, I foresee more of a situation where the title is demanded back by Vince or Steph and he refuses to relinquish it so they make his life a living hell sort of scenario playing out, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.

I need to start getting paid by the Vince

Except he's not starting at #1, though. Maybe #2 instead?

Lol he should come in 30 and no one 1-29 eliminates anyone til he gets in so there's actually 30 in the ring at once

That would be priceless.

Unless Reigns literally eliminates all 29 superstars.

At once.

You know that old Royal Rumble cliche where everyone in the ring joins forces to eliminate one big guy? It'll be like that but in reverse.

<font color=goldenrod>Reigns comes in at #30 and then outsmarts all 29 other men by literally lifting a corner of the ring up and dumping everybody out at once. Makes him look extra strong (literally).</font>

He enters a ring of 29 men who have been merely waiting 45 minutes for Reigns to arrive as #30. Reigns fearlessly enters the ring, the others circle him, pointing feverishly at the Wrestlemania sign and muttering incoherent babble about a "brass ring". Roman turns to the hard camera, smirks his smirkiest smirk and shrugs his broad company-carrying shoulders. He cocks him muscular arm like the weapon of mass destruction we know it to be, before delivering a single superman punch to the very ring itself. The sheer strength of Roman Reigns creates a shockwave, causing all 29 of his opponents to topple over the top rope to the floor. Backstage, a single tear forms in the eye of Vince McMahon. He delicately cradles the image on his monitor, "Thank you Roman Reigns, thank you" he whispers gently. WWE is saved. Nobody will ever complain again.

I think people would actually jump the rails after that.