Rate Raw 6/12/2017

[Jacob Fox]

Rate Raw and leave a comment to let us know what you thought of the show!

Spoiler: Raw Results

Opening

Paul Heyman came out and praised Samoa Joe but made it clear Lesnar would win. Lesnar and Samoa Joe got face to face and began fighting. The whole locker room had to hold the two back.

Dean Ambrose vs Elias Samson

Samson won by pin fall.

Cedric Alexander vs Noam Dar

Cedric Alexander squashed Noam Dar by pin fall

Kalisto vs Apollo Crews

Apollo Crews won by pin fall.

Mickie James, Sasha Banks and Dana Brooke vs Emma, Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss

Mickie James, Sasha Banks and Dana Brooke won by pin fall.

Rhyno and Heath Slater vs Miz and Congratulations Bear

The Congratulations Bear was Dean Ambrose, who attacked Miz and gave Heath Slater the pin fall win

Rich Swann vs Neville

The match was thrown out before it began.

Enzo and Cass vs The Club

The Club won by pin fall

2 of 3 Falls Match for the RAW Tag Team Titles: The Hardys vs. Cesaro and Sheamus

Both teams won one fall a piece and then the last one was a double count out.

 

[Jacob Fox]

We had a great chat in the room and that probably elevated the rating. There were good matches though! I really like what they are doing with Enzo and Cass and Nia Jax.

Personally, that confrontation between Joe and Lesnar was awesome. They are letting Joe be Joe and I love that.

 

[Grievous 3D]

~ Okay RAW...let me have a look...

~ Look Samoa Joe is awesome...but I can't get invested in this feud or match...
because we all know Joe isn't winning at Burning Cock & Balls.

Prove us wrong WWE...I fucking dare you!

~ And now Dean Ambrose is getting the "Rusev Treatment" which is to be expected
as he's a likeable and talented wrestler who recently married an attractive
blonde...and as we all know...that sought of behavior earns you heat backstage
so prepare to watch Dean's career be flushed down the toilet by the RAW creative.

~ I'd much rather Goldust be playing his twisted games with someone else than R-Truth.
Actually...have we ever had a Miz/Goldust feud? That would be awesome!

~ Speaking of the Miz...there he is...along with the lovely Maryse. I still wish
she was dressing up as Nikki Bella.

~ G...another Cedric Alexander vs. Noam Dar match...SKIP!!!

~ [HASHTAG]#IgnoreReigns[/HASHTAG]

~ And now we have a segment between 2 of the most talented WWE performers...who
have done nothing but get fucked over by terrible booking in the last 12 months.

I wonder who will get fucked over at Burning Cock & Balls? My vote is for both of
them...

~ Apollo Crews vs. Kalisto...again...and Crews wins. So much for that small amount
of momentum that Kalisto had.

Shouldn't Kalisto be wrestling other cruiserweights?

~ Titus O'Neil can go grab Vince's arm again.

~ Emma Is Back! Behold her Australian beauty and despair!

~ Okay...so I know fans are critical of the SmackDown creative for booking multi-
women tag matches...but SmackDown is a 2 hour show...RAW IS 3 FUCKING HOURS!

Let's just throw all the women we have in to one cluster fuck of a match where
no one stands out and no one gets over.

~ Mickie looked amazing in those shorts...
~ Nia is boring and only does three moves...
~ Dana looks good but can't wrestle...
~ And Emma taps out...wonderful...Fuck you WWE!

[HASHTAG]#Justice4Emma[/HASHTAG]

~ but at least Sasha is still looking good...although after what went down with
Becky Lynch & Bayley...may-be Sasha should stay away from Alexa Bliss.

~ Next we have a sit down interview with Corey Graves and a woman who had a career
before the RAW creative team and Alexa Bliss burned it to the ground and pissed on the ashes.

BAYLEY IS FUCKING DEAD & BURIED!

~ And the Miz isn't allowed to look good because he's also married to an attractive
blonde...so he eats a pin.

~ Neville is the only champion who has been booked like one in the last 12 months.

~ Enzo & Cass vs. the Club for the 314th time...meanwhile Emma & Mickie James sit
backstage and wonder why they are even signed to the WWE.

~ JUST HAVE CASS KICK ENZO IN THE FACE ALREADY!!!

~ And Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Hardyz ends in a draw. G...I wonder if they will
be having another match at Burning Cock & Balls.

~ And no Finn Balor again this week. You may as well head back to New Japan Finn...the RAW
creative team has nothing for you.

And I'm done.

 

[Jeremiah]

@Grievous did you pick up on how it seemed that everyone who said, "Great Balls of Fire" said it like they were rolling their eyes when they said it?

 

[Grievous 3D]

@Grievous did you pick up on how it seemed that everyone who said, "Great Balls of Fire" said it like they were rolling their eyes when they said it?

No I didn't...because every time they said that I just heard "Burning Cock & Balls"

 

[Jeremiah]

No I didn't...because every time they said that I just heard "Burning Cock & Balls"

I won't lie, I giggled each time I heard it.

 

[Eva Maryse]

Gotta go with a 0/10. Atrocious Raw all round apart from Joe/Brock.

Mostly this is the Raw where I realized I have to give up on one of the may favourite wrestlers of all time. Miz is just going to be booked like absolute garbage until he retires. He's treated like a pathetic joke every single week and its become unwatchable. Same thing every week, all he ever does is get his ass kicked and its beyond boring.

Its what WWE excel at; making people give up/tire of their favourites.

 

[Prince Bálor]

RAW was... RAWful. 2/10

The opening segment with Lesnar and Joe was great, the Enzo/Cass/Show angle was nicely done and the ME was good. Everything else was either bad or boring.

 

[Doxo]

Gotta go with a 0/10. Atrocious Raw all round apart from Joe/Brock.

Mostly this is the Raw where I realized I have to give up on one of the may favourite wrestlers of all time. Miz is just going to be booked like absolute garbage until he retires. He's treated like a pathetic joke every single week and its become unwatchable. Same thing every week, all he ever does is get his ass kicked and its beyond boring.

Its what WWE excel at; making people give up/tire of their favourites.

This is why I outright refuse to watch Raw. On Smackdown, Miz and Ambrose were two of my top 3 favorite wrestlers of all time (1 and 3 respectively) while on Raw, they are absolutely awful. We go from Miz doing promos of the year to him getting beat up by a bear and Ambrose finally becoming a lunatic once more to nope, say hello to Uncle Wacky

 

[Jacob Fox]

I guess the only reason it was enjoyable was because of the chat. Had a great time with @Beavporeon @Just Kitten @Just Kevin @Thatoneguy @Black Wizard The Big Boss Man @Solidus showing us what the forum might look like. @Solid Snake appearing but not in a very cat promotional way.

I am sorry if I missed anyone, I am tired. BUT it was one of the most fun chats we have had

 

[Jeremiah]

I guess the only reason it was enjoyable was because of the chat. Had a great time with @Beavporeon @Just Kitten @Just Kevin @Thatoneguy @Black Wizard The Big Boss Man @Solidus showing us what the forum might look like. @Solid Snake appearing but not in a very cat promotional way.

I am sorry if I missed anyone, I am tired. BUT it was one of the most fun chats we have had :emoji_slight_smile:

My thanks to everyone, as well, I felt like I was Officially brought into the fold, last night. You guys rock!

 

[Jacob Fox]

My thanks to everyone, as well, I felt like I was Officially brought into the fold, last night. You guys rock!

You have quickly become one of the gang

 

[Chicken McDouble]

In my opinion, the Titus Brand is the most entertaining thing on RAW at the moment. Other people may think differently, but I honestly really like it.

Joe/Lesnar segment was good, main event was great apart from the finish, Enzo/Cass segment was good, everything else was meh and I honestly don't know what they were thinking with The Miz and Ambrose, send them back over to smackdown.

5/10

 

[Jacob Fox]

We need Braun Strowman back

 

[alexb]

If this was a rare exception and/or a case in which perhaps WWE basically gave up on the night knowing they were up against the NBA Finals, I'd honestly give them a pass but being this has practically been the norm in...forever (certainly feels like it), there's just no excuse.

This show was so bad I can't even rant about it cause if I begin going through all the garbage we got, I may end up throwing up and that's the last thing I need. Quite frankly, it's come to the point where it ain't funny any more and I find no reason to waste my time when it appears that WWE themselves seemingly don't give a shit. If they don't give a shit, why should we?

Once upon time WWE television was literally must see and can’t miss. A time when creative was actually…creative and you had great storylines leading to countless memorable matches and/or moments. A time when RAW would go off the air and left you wanting more, even if it was just another 5-10 minutes. A time when you wished the next show was the following,night but instead had you counting days till next Monday would roll around. A time when you couldn’t wait for Tuesday morning to talk about what had happened the night before with your friends at school or work or wherever. How times have changed…

Without obviously discovering America or anything all of a sudden, I feel that the main reason for this downwards trend over the years is the lack of any serious, legitimate competition. All these other smaller promotions or shows that are around may be decent (at best, at least some of them from the little that I know since I don't follow anything else) but, let’s face it, they are nowhere near WWE’s caliber and with no realistic competition, in my view WWE don’t have the urge to better themselves. If you need a better understanding of the point I am trying to make, what better example to give you than the birth of the Attitude Era and how it all began back then. This may probably sound a bit simplistic but, let’s be real, it's WWE we are talking about, not quantum fucking science.

Based on the above which I consider the main reason for where we are at today, you can then look at all the little things surrounding it because from this point on, in my eyes it's basically a chain reaction.

Take creative for example…or should I say the lack thereof? Good and compelling storylines have simply become extinct. I remember back in the day there was clearly a vision and you had stories being told in the span of months (if not even an entire year), stories that had us invested, a serious build leading to whichever big match which would almost always be highly anticipated. Nowadays it seems like long term booking ain’t part of the plan (with perhaps a handful of rare exceptions) and very often stories are a result of poor rehashing of old stuff or just lazy last minute throwaways with little to none thinking behind it. Look at Jinder Mahal for instance: “oh, you Americans this, this and that”, the typical anti-American card that has been played over and over and over again. Newsflash Vince, it's gotten old. In all fairness, RAW have a couple of story lines lately that do have an interesting build (obviously referring to the Kurt Angle situation or the mystery attacker backstage) so it's not like they all of a sudden forgot how to put a good show together, which basically makes the entire situation even more frustrating.

Another example is the overexposure of the product. Once again, not discovering anything new here but the fact of the matter is, nowadays it’s like…wrestling overload. Three hours of RAW, two hours of Smackdown, one hour of 205 Live and another hour of NXT, which is then often followed (feels like every other week at times) by a three or four (occasionally five or seven) hour fucking PPV on Sundays, not counting the times when there’s an NXT Takeover on Saturdays as well. That’s a lot of fucking wrestling and especially these PPV’s have seemingly gone out of control. I’m not saying that it should go back to what was once known as the Big 4 (that were the only four) but this thing today is just overkill. Needless to say, with all these shows and all these hours every week, no wonder creativity is burnt out and nonexistent, once again leading us back to the chain reaction I mentioned above. How can you expect creative to keep up and deliver compelling stories consistently when you’re basically burning them on a daily basis? How can you avoid all these filler shows we get from time to time? How can you produce three fucking quality hours of RAW every week? The answer is simple: you just can’t. How do you expect the fans to follow EVERTHING? I mean, hardcore and all, there comes a point where you just can't take anymore and this is without even mentioning those that on the side follow a ROH or a Lucha Underground or whatever other promotion is out there.

When talking about overexposure, social media has it’s little share I feel in this deal. Now, personally (and I've mentioned this before) I don’t even have a twitter account (let alone use it) but with all the social media around these days and obviously the internet, spoilers are inevitable and while one can easily avoid them (like I do), I feel this leads to a certain element lacking that once was pretty crucial for the show: the element of surprise. It’s exactly why RAW was must watch and can’t miss. You didn’t know what’s going to happen or who may show up on any given Monday. Nowadays it’s like “Brock Lesnar will be on RAW next week” or "the Undertaker returns next week on RAW"; almost everything is announced ahead of time whereas back then they’d just hit the music without you ever see it coming, hence the surprise, which is why we have countless memorable moments. Problem is, who can blame them? Things have gotten so stale these days that the fans don’t give a shit, leading to low ticket sales and new record lows as far as ratings are concerned, thus forcing WWE to announce shit ahead of time. But while announcing stuff may sell a few more tickets or get a few more pairs of eyes tuning in on TV, it doesn't solve the problem.

I’m closing in on almost a thousand words and as you may have noticed there’s been no mention of the talent itself whatsoever. But why would I when they are the last to be blamed for this mess? Last I recall, none of us ever complained about the in ring action and I am pretty confident to say that the current generation of stars is by far the best wrestling has ever seen. If there’s one thing they are “guilty” about, it’s…following the script. In other words, it’s not about why they can or can’t do in the ring in terms of performance but the way they are used overall, whether it’s a Roman Reigns shoved down our throats or a Bray Wyatt never living up to his words, hence the eater of pins joke.

It's funny that i started off this post with "why should we give a shit when WWE themselves seemingly don't" quote and ended up typing over a thousand words talking about it. If only WWE cared as much as us the fans do....