Rate Raw - 12/15/2014

[Prince Bálor]

I'm just glad Reigns has managed to surpass the level of charisma exhibited by Diesel through just one night of work (WWF Diesel, of course, not Nash necessarily).
He's rocking a t-shirt which also a positive sign.
I didn't notice his usual robotic movements. He seemed to move his head around, acknowledged and even engaged the audience some.
Undertaker and Jeff Hardy were both silent characters whose eyes could tell a story.
Even Chris Benoit could tell stories without speaking at all.

Reigns has a ways to go and everybody gets better in the ring with time. His ring prowess will need to make up for his mic work, however.

'Optimistic' would've been perfect here.

His promo at TLC was cheesy. But this one from RAW was a tad bit better, I'll give him that.
He can improve, the 'E just has to invest in this kid. Although I'm not big on him now, I'd like Reigns to grow on me someday.
Getting rid of that vest was probably a good idea, as far as his entrance being changed, like the rumors have been saying, we'll see about that. This one definitely separates him from the rest of the roster.

 

[Dude Love]

Enjoyed the main event. Y2J looks to be living off name only now, sucks. Rollins vs. Cena was a decent match. That FU from the top rope was a nice spot. Rollins seems to be booked as a tough guy, kicking out of an FU while selling an injury.

Also, Mizdow is fantastic. Had me in stitches lol.

5/10 RAW IMO.

 

[Leo C]

I don't know, I thought Big Show having a that stare down with Reigns was good. At least the visual of it. If you ignore the lack of logic in how it started and how Big Show has been booked to be uninteresting over the years, it's not that bad.

 

[Prince Bálor]

I don't know, I thought Big Show having a that stare down with Reigns was good. At least the visual of it. If you ignore the lack of logic in how it started and how Big Show has been booked to be uninteresting over the years, it's not that bad.

Yeah, Show vs Reigns doesn't really make sense, but it kinda does in WWE's mind, considering what happened at TLC.
Show interferred out of the good, ol' 'LOL, I'm a heel' and Reigns did it out of the good, ol' 'LOL, I'm a face'.

If Reigns is still their golden boy, then booking him against Show means squat, in my book, at least. Yeah, the marks will see it like 'OMG, he defeated the Giant, he's so awesome'
Might be a better idea to finish off this feud before the Rumble.

 

[Leo C]

Yeah, Show vs Reigns doesn't really make sense, but it kinda does in WWE's mind, considering what happened at TLC.
Show interferred out of the good, ol' 'LOL, I'm a heel' and Reigns did it out of the good, ol' 'LOL, I'm a face'.

If Reigns is still their golden boy, then booking him against Show means squat, in my book, at least. Yeah, the marks will see it like 'OMG, he defeated the Giant, he's so awesome'
Might be a better idea to finish off this feud before the Rumble.

Well, they certainly will.

 

[Danielson]

I gave it a 6/10. Thought it was one of the better episodes the past couple months

 

[Danielson]

Jericho looked like a scolded dog btw, i lawld

 

[Jacob Fox]

I gave it a 5, but that might have had something to do with the fact I watched it recorded and could fast forward through the crap.

The best part for me was likely Brock Lesnar's appearance and that was more because I like Heyman. I enjoyed the segment in the beginning when Heyman said something to Jericho like "just for the record, I believe you can beat Paul Heyman." My sister watched it with me and both agreed Jericho was being an ass as Heyman really didn't do anything to instigate the fight with Jericho so Chris pretty much had it coming.

I can't say I really like or really hate Roman Reigns, I'm mildly indifferent. However I think they are going down a bad road with him. I'll explain what I mean.

When the Ultimate Warrior won his IC belt back from Rick Rude, the WWF booked him as a unstoppable force. He had a lot of matches where he pinned Andre the Giant in mere seconds. For the second year straight he was the sole survivor of the Survivor Series match he was in. He didn't win the Rumble, but had an altercation with Hogan in it where he stood toe to toe with Hogan. And then he went to Wrestlemania and did what no other wrestler had ever done: pinned Hulk Hogan cleanly for the world title.

So now we have Reigns who eliminated twelve people from the previous Rumble 2 months after eliminating 4 guys in a Survivor Series match. They are probably going to have him destroy Big Show, win the Rumble and defeat Lesnar clean for the belt at Wrestlemania, after Lesnar beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania for the first time in 22 tries and destroying John Cena for the title at Summerslam.

The problem with this is that in 1990 Warrior had been oversold and it was unrealistic to give him an opponent who could believably beat him. They put him up against Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, Haku and Ted Dibiase... all of these guys were phenomenally better wrestlers than Warrior but it was completely not believable that any of them could defeat the Warrior... the man who seemed invincible and pinned Hogan cleanly. So what does WWF do, put the belt on Sgt. Slaughter to give it back to Hogan.

I sort of see this repeating with Reigns. As I mentioned, I don't dislike Reigns and I have no problem? With him being the champ. But after throwing 12 guys out of the Rumble and eliminating 4 guys from Survivor Series (with WWE reminding us of this every 10 seconds) , likely feuding with the Big Show and likely destroying him, likely winning the Rumble and likely beating Lesnar, the unstoppable monster, for the belt, who will be a believable opponent for the guy? And I don't mean to people like us who post and talk about wrestling all the time. I mean to that casual fan they are trying to win over who doesn't approach wrestling like we do.

It was the segment with Show that reminded me of the Ultimate Warrior (why do I keep dating myself) push. Hopefully if they go the route we all believe they are going, they will put Rollins in the mix with some sort of believable defeat over Reigns to make him look somewhat vulnerable. Otherwise it looks to me like a repeat of Warrior's reign.

Although I should add a caveat. I actually think Warrior versus Rude at Summerslam 1990 was a good match. However I didn't believe on any level that Rude could have won.

 

[The GOAT]

I loved seeing Brock interact with Jericho. They've never wrestled (the closet they came was the KOTR tournament from 2002) or even physically interacted, so it was cool to see them go at it for a bit. Also, I lol'd at Michael Cole saying "Guys, he's the champ!" when Brock was pacing around the ring before confronting Y2J. Just the whole tone of his voice was like he was making sure the audience didn't forget that he was the world champion, especially since he didn't have the title on him the first time he came out.

I've already forgot most of what else happened on the show and I skimmed past most of it on my DVR as usual anyway. The ending did make me realize, though, what a great Paul Heyman Guy Seth Rollins will/would make once Lesnar loses the title and likely leaves WWE.

 

[The GOAT]

Yeah, Show vs Reigns doesn't really make sense, but it kinda does in WWE's mind, considering what happened at TLC.
Show interferred out of the good, ol' 'LOL, I'm a heel' and Reigns did it out of the good, ol' 'LOL, I'm a face'.

If Reigns is still their golden boy, then booking him against Show means squat, in my book, at least. Yeah, the marks will see it like 'OMG, he defeated the Giant, he's so awesome'
Might be a better idea to finish off this feud before the Rumble.

Their aim is to give Reigns a noteworthy victory in between the Rumble and his match with Lesnar at Wrestlemania... one that will play to Reigns' strengths as a powerhouse (since that's the type of dynamic the match between he and Brock will be), and a feud with the Big Show makes perfect sense from that viewpoint. Going over "The World's Largest Athlete" is a lot more of an efficient way of making someone like Reigns look strong than going over someone like Fandango would be. Mark Henry is the only person who would be just as suited for the heel role that Big Show is playing right now.

 

[Red Rain]

Their aim is to give Reigns a noteworthy victory in between the Rumble and his match with Lesnar at Wrestlemania... one that will play to Reigns' strengths as a powerhouse (since that's the type of dynamic the match between he and Brock will be), and a feud with the Big Show makes perfect sense from that viewpoint. Going over "The World's Largest Athlete" is a lot more of an efficient way of making someone like Reigns look strong than going over someone like Fandango would be. Mark Henry is the only person who would be just as suited for the heel role that Big Show is playing right now.

This is a nearly identical scenario to the format used with Brock Lesnar heading into his duel with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 30.
Apparently, there's no need to teach an old dog new tricks when that old dog was extremely successful the year before.

 

[Red Rain]

I gave it a 5, but that might have had something to do with the fact I watched it recorded and could fast forward through the crap.

The best part for me was likely Brock Lesnar's appearance and that was more because I like Heyman. I enjoyed the segment in the beginning when Heyman said something to Jericho like "just for the record, I believe you can beat Paul Heyman." My sister watched it with me and both agreed Jericho was being an ass as Heyman really didn't do anything to instigate the fight with Jericho so Chris pretty much had it coming.

I can't say I really like or really hate Roman Reigns, I'm mildly indifferent. However I think they are going down a bad road with him. I'll explain what I mean.

When the Ultimate Warrior won his IC belt back from Rick Rude, the WWF booked him as a unstoppable force. He had a lot of matches where he pinned Andre the Giant in mere seconds. For the second year straight he was the sole survivor of the Survivor Series match he was in. He didn't win the Rumble, but had an altercation with Hogan in it where he stood toe to toe with Hogan. And then he went to Wrestlemania and did what no other wrestler had ever done: pinned Hulk Hogan cleanly for the world title.

So now we have Reigns who eliminated twelve people from the previous Rumble 2 months after eliminating 4 guys in a Survivor Series match. They are probably going to have him destroy Big Show, win the Rumble and defeat Lesnar clean for the belt at Wrestlemania, after Lesnar beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania for the first time in 22 tries and destroying John Cena for the title at Summerslam.

The problem with this is that in 1990 Warrior had been oversold and it was unrealistic to give him an opponent who could believably beat him. They put him up against Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, Haku and Ted Dibiase... all of these guys were phenomenally better wrestlers than Warrior but it was completely not believable that any of them could defeat the Warrior... the man who seemed invincible and pinned Hogan cleanly. So what does WWF do, put the belt on Sgt. Slaughter to give it back to Hogan.

I sort of see this repeating with Reigns. As I mentioned, I don't dislike Reigns and I have no problem? With him being the champ. But after throwing 12 guys out of the Rumble and eliminating 4 guys from Survivor Series (with WWE reminding us of this every 10 seconds) , likely feuding with the Big Show and likely destroying him, likely winning the Rumble and likely beating Lesnar, the unstoppable monster, for the belt, who will be a believable opponent for the guy? And I don't mean to people like us who post and talk about wrestling all the time. I mean to that casual fan they are trying to win over who doesn't approach wrestling like we do.

It was the segment with Show that reminded me of the Ultimate Warrior (why do I keep dating myself) push. Hopefully if they go the route we all believe they are going, they will put Rollins in the mix with some sort of believable defeat over Reigns to make him look somewhat vulnerable. Otherwise it looks to me like a repeat of Warrior's reign.

Although I should add a caveat. I actually think Warrior versus Rude at Summerslam 1990 was a good match. However I didn't believe on any level that Rude could have won.

I honestly doubt anyone at WWE brass would want a repeat of the Ultimate Warrior, to be honest.
Have you ever wondered what HHH's opinion of Ultimate Warrior probably is?

 

[Prince Bálor]

Their aim is to give Reigns a noteworthy victory in between the Rumble and his match with Lesnar at Wrestlemania... one that will play to Reigns' strengths as a powerhouse (since that's the type of dynamic the match between he and Brock will be), and a feud with the Big Show makes perfect sense from that viewpoint. Going over "The World's Largest Athlete" is a lot more of an efficient way of making someone like Reigns look strong than going over someone like Fandango would be. Mark Henry is the only person who would be just as suited for the heel role that Big Show is playing right now.

Yeah, I get the point.
The thing is, Reigns can go and defeat the Big Show before the Rumble and then he can eliminate 29 other men and win the actual Rumble match, I still wouldn't give a fuck about him.
That's all.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I honestly doubt anyone at WWE brass would want a repeat of the Ultimate Warrior, to be honest.
Have you ever wondered what HHH's opinion of Ultimate Warrior probably is?

I can't say I know how HHH feels about the Warrior, but the default position by many in the business is not a positive one. I've personally had interaction with him and it was an extremely negative experience.

But I didn't really mean that Reigns would be like the Warrior in any real way, just that after defeating Lesnar Reigns may be in the same position as Warrior was when he defeated Hogan: with no believable opponents.

The more I think about it though, I think I was wrong on that one. Wrestling in WWF back then was more one dimensional than it is now. It's more conceivable now for a technical wrestler to defeat a bigger power wrestler than it was in 1990. And when Warrior beat Hogan, Hogan had been the standard bearer for six years without being cleanly defeated once that entire time.

I'm sort of irritated at myself because the comparison I made was rather weak. But at least I realize that now.

 

[Red Rain]

I can't say I know how HHH feels about the Warrior, but the default position by many in the business is not a positive one. I've personally had interaction with him and it was an extremely negative experience.

But I didn't really mean that Reigns would be like the Warrior in any real way, just that after defeating Lesnar Reigns may be in the same position as Warrior was when he defeated Hogan: with no believable opponents.

The more I think about it though, I think I was wrong on that one. Wrestling in WWF back then was more one dimensional than it is now. It's more conceivable now for a technical wrestler to defeat a bigger power wrestler than it was in 1990. And when Warrior beat Hogan, Hogan had been the standard bearer for six years without being cleanly defeated once that entire time.

I'm sort of irritated at myself because the comparison I made was rather weak. But at least I realize that now.

Don't worry about it. I've done it numerous occasions and lived to tell about it. It was my take and I know where I was going with my diatribe.
One of Bill Goldberg's initial problems during his first few months in WWE was that he was required to work a match with psychology.
WWE eventually allowed him to begin squashing talent left and right, but there was an adjustment period.

If you're literally saying Roman Reigns will have no realistic opponents, than I 100% agree with you.
John Cena? How? Undertaker? No. HHH? Definitely not. If those three couldn't conceivably defeat Reigns than who can?
One analogy was the 'force of will' theory where a man simply trains beyond his limits. It's the reason Lesnar barely got by Punk only to defeat Cena handily.
I hate the 'he's just got your number' theory. Now, THAT would be weak, yet its used consistently in WWE lure.

WWE has, in essence, booked Reigns into a corner. The man who defeats Reigns should be a guy who trains to his limit and surpasses him.
Make it evident that superstars are targeting HIM, not the championship. Train to take down your target, not what that target possesses.