Thoughts From Raw:
We had a lot happen with Cena, Seth Rollins, and Brock
Lesnar tonight, so let’s start by looking at things in chronological order…
Seth Rollins def.
John Cena in a lumberjack match. Really solid, suspenseful match. Kudos to
Cena for leaping off the top rope on to that assembly of wrestlers. He
certainly doesn’t have to take those kind of risks, but he does anyway. I’m now
of the belief that Rollins was added to the WWE Championship match at the Royal Rumble simply because he’s the
hottest heel on the roster. Lesnar, as much of a bad ass as he is, has simply
lost too much steam from being gone so long. WWE overplayed their hand with the
“novely of seeing Brock” card. He’s
simply been gone too long. This could have been helped with the proper use of
Paul Heyman, but I think that ship has sailed.
Brock Lesnar and Paul
Heyman play up the end of The Undertaker’s streak in an in-ring segment. This
was good. Remind us of who Brock Lesnar is, who Brock Lesnar has become, and
what Brock Lesnar can do to John Cena and Seth Rollins at the Royal Rumble. The fantasy/reality
picture Heyman painted was strong. Personally, while I think Seth Rollins is
now the hottest heel around, Brock Lesnar should still be the man who loses the
title at Wrestlemania XXXI. He’s come
too far to simply drop it in two weeks.
Rollins curb stomps
both Lesnar and Cena in contract signing segment. I won’t lie, seeing these
guys finally mix it up did get me hyped for the match. It’s exciting to see
Brock mix it up with somebody besides John Cena for the first time in almost a
year. I don’t know if the match will be a show-stealer. But it’ll certainly be
one to watch.
Now let’s move on. We’ve certainly got one big piece of news
to talk about…
“Macho Man” Randy Savage
announced for WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015. Needless to say, this is long
overdue. Whatever persona differences the real-life Randy Poffo and Vince
McMahon had, they obviously kept them from doing business while Randy was still
alive. It’s nice that the “Macho Man” is
finally getting this well-deserved honor, but he should have been alive to see
it. It’s a terrible injustice that he’s not.
Booker T. replaces
Jerry Lawler at the announce desk. Lawler moved to Smackdown. Booker T. wouldn’t have been my first pick for
Lawler’s job. He’s been known to butcher the English language, and say
incredibly stupid things. (Case in point, his analogy about everybody dying on Gilligans Island.) I can think of a few
announcers I’d much rather see in that spot, Renee Young being at the top of
that list. But at least it shakes things up a bit. Meanwhile, I’m wondering
what Lawler really thinks about being
sent to Smackdown. Any way you slice
it, it’s the B-show. But it’ll be interesting to see how Lawler does now that
he’s part of a two-man announce team again.
Daniel Bryan
announces his intention to win the Royal Rumble, will compete on Thursday’s Smackdown. Bringing Bryan to Smackdown is an interesting move. I
suppose there’s no need for the Rumble match to be his official return. It
might even get fans a little more pumped up to see him. So why not?
Roman Reigns and the
Big Show are involved in the Randy Savage “Ooooooo Yeah” impersonation package.
This was wrong for both of these guys. Neither of them should be funny
right now. And the Big Show is in a top heel spot, so we shouldn’t be laughing
at him. Hell, he came out to cut a heel promo in the very next segment! Roman
Reigns should be an intimidating man of few words. Speaking of which….
The Big Show and
Roman Reigns get some mic time. WWE continues to book Roman Reigns
improperly, from my point of view. Having Reigns recite that be in the ring
with that stupid Cena-like smile, and cut a textbook Cena-like promo, was the
exact opposite of what WWE should be going for with this guy. The whole thing
reeked of an out-of-touch Vince McMahon “promo class.” Why are they forcing
this guy to do long, drawn out monologues? That’s clearly not his strength!
The Ascension
continues to get heat for comparing themselves to Demolition and the Road
Warriors. As a fan, I’m not sure what everybody got all worked up about
last week when The Ascension cut that promoo on teams of the past. Does anybody
think they really have beef with the
Road Warriors? These guys are just trying to get themselves over. And hey, it
worked didn’t it? People clearly turned on them.
Dean Ambrose takes
part in “psychological evaluation.” Surprisingly, these segments were
pretty painless. Though that whole “sit down to pee” line at the end, once
again, reeked of McMahon humor.
Bad News Barrett is
once against cast as a heel. This is a mistake. People like the whole “I’m
afraid I’ve got some bad news…” thing, and just like with Cesaro, they’re going
against the grain. Why? They want to cheer for Barrett. So let them cheer!
Justin Gabriel pops
up on Raw as one of the heel lumberjacks.
I’m fairly certain this doesn’t mean Gabriel is a heel now. More likely
it’s an illustration of how thin the roster is. But hey, at least the guy got
on Raw…
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