DISCLAIMER - THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS SHARED IN THIS REVIEW ARE OF THE AUTHORS AND IN NO WAY THE VIEWS OR OPINIONS OF ANYONE ELSE. I DON'T CLAIM TO BE ANY EXPERT AND IN NO WAY SHOULD THIS REVIEW BE TAKEN IN THIS WAY. IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY THIS REVIEW OR HAVE ANY TIPS FOR IMPROVEMENT PLEASE PM ME, THANK YOU.
As many of you may know I went to the RAW taping this past Monday, and this is a little write up on my experience.
Having traveled up to the o2 by coach last year, I decided I was never going to go by coach again, I didn't want the long journey and definitely didn't want to travel back the same night like last year. Due to that I traveled down from Manchester on the train. Having met my friend at Liverpool Street because he's scared of traveling alone, we headed off to the Hotel. The Hotel was okay, nothing special, but for £50 a night it was a steal and I'm pleased with booking it as it was so close to the o2. Having relaxed for around 30 minutes we headed off to the o2, it was quite early but we wanted to try and get something to eat/look at the merchandise stand.
Once at the o2 we went to the Merch stand, there wasn't that much on offer and it was kind of disappointing, I was pissed off with the fact that neither Cody Rhodes or Daniel Bryan's new shirts were there, I settled for a new Punk shirt whilst my mate got the new Cena shirt because Rock's was sold out. Later on I heard that Dolph Ziggler was meeting everyone that bought his Pink shirt, I was kind of disappointment but eh, I wouldn't wear the shirt in public anyway. After going to the Merch stand I went to Tesco's to by some beers then I met with some other friends who I met up with at the event last year. It was nice meeting up with the guys again, it kind of made the day better because we're all good Wrestling fans and we have nice discussions each year, we're planning on going to Mania next year too.
Me and the guys.
After meeting the guys outside the Arena we headed into Nandos. It was just like last year and was cool chatting with them all some more. After the meal we headed off to the line to get in the Arena, for some reason it was massive so I'm glad we got in line when we did. I was a little drunk during this time and tried getting some YES YES YES chants going, but no one was joining in and I was worried that they wouldn't happen, all I heard whilst in line was the stupid fucking WOOOOOO chants mostly done by little kids who don't even know who Ric Flair is, eventually there was a few YES YES YES chants thanks to some guys up on an elevator. Finally we got into the arena after about 20 minutes and I was real pumped for the show.
View of the ring.
View of the stage.
We didn't have long to wait Until the first match of the evening, which was a dark match between Alex Riley and Dean Ambrose. Riley got a decent pop and it kind of surprised me. No one knew who Ambrose was, apart from a couple of people including myself, I was chanting his name whilst a typical 'who are ya' chant was made by the crowd. It was an okay match but nothing to write home about, Riley still seems green to me and I hope he gets released, Ambrose looked solid though and I expect a bright future for him.
I took two pics of Ambrose, both were blurry, but I'd rather show these pics then those of the shitty jobber Riley.
Next up was a portion of the Superstars taping.... I seriously don't get why this show is still going, why not scrap it and make NXT 2 hours or something like that? Anyway, first up was Kelly Kelly vs Eve. I don't care about divas feuds at all, and the match didn't do anything to spark my interest again. Vince, please sort this division out, I want to see Divas beating the shit out of each other, not botching and being just eye candy, I know these divas all have potential to be great, and gven the right time and training they could draw more female fans.
Mmmmmmmmm.
Not a huge fan of Eve but I LOVE this pic, might be due to the fact she has stiff nips. EDIT: Calm down people it's a joke....
After the poor divas match we has R-Truth vs Jack Swagger. Truth got a huge pop and Swagger had more a less dead reaction though I did notice a few cheers. It was actually a decent match, back and forth and entertaining, not a classic but certainly decent for Superstars. However, it seemed to drag on quite a bit and at the end of the day I just wanted RAW to happen.
I didn't get got unfortunately....
Stupid Orton mark in front of me ruined the perfect shot. Ah well, him and his friend kept looking around and agreeing with me every time I gave crap to a star or cheered on the Heels.
So, it was finally time for RAW. Before the show went on air, Lillian Garcia came out to sing God Save Our Queen, no idea why she did it, but people boo'd her for it lol.
Looks quite nice in person, nicer than I expected and looks a LOT younger than 45..
RAW time and first up it was Cm Punk vs Mark Henry in a No DQ and No Count Out match for the WWE Championship. For some reason Henry came out before the opening titles and was in the ring when the show began, never understood why they do that and it's kind of pathetic that they do it for a title match. Punk came out to a huge ovation, the crowd was really hot for him and there was as much Punk shirts being worn as there was Cena shirts, perhaps more, I was really pumped for this match. It didn't disappoint with both guys stepping up and putting on a solid match. I liked the inclusion of the chair and how Punk got the finish, didn't expect it to finish that way and expected Punk to instead do some superman antics, but I'm glad they kept it credible and it didn't hurt Henry too much. One thing I didn't like was the predictable changes of momentum during the match but that was the only issue.
Punk's new shirt is pretty damn awesome.
SOMEBODAY GONE GET THEIR ASS KICKED!
After this mini feud with Punk, I honestly wouldn't mind Henry getting a WWE Title run before he calls it a day.
Great finish!
After the match we got a nice promo segment between Punk and Jericho. These guys are perfect together and I hope we get one more match between the two after Extreme Rules. Really confused as to why Jericho wasn't used for the main show though.
Trollin!
Fish and Chips? Yeah sure Punk xD.
The controversial words promo was advertised, I was really pumped for this and couldn't wait.
Here comes the pain.... via big screen!
Next up it was the US Title Match with Santino Marella defending the title against the legendary A-List David Otunga. Santino's entrance was funny with all the Football shirts, I'm surprised he didn't have a Spurs shirt on though. I really wanted Otunga to win this, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. Even though I'm an Otunga mark his in ring skills suck and the match wasn't very good. I marked when Otunga seemingly got the pin on Santino but I then saw Santino's foot on the rope and I got pissed off. The way Otunga flipped over to the other side before the pin to make sure Santino could get his foot on the rope was kind of horrible and the story of the match.
Since when have Harvard Law graduates been posers like this? Doesn't make sense.
Short Lord Tensai promo, I kind of forgot what he said, and had to come back in here to mention it as it relates to something later on.
After that shocker of a match it was time for the controversial words promo. Not got much to say about this, other than the fact it was a brilliant promo. Shame he didn't appear in person but it was expected.
Kane vs Ryder was up next, obviously a blow off match from their feud WWE seemingly forgot about. Ryder jobbed out and became more and more irrelevant. Poor guy, it was going so well, crowd gave him a decent reaction too.
Love this picture!
If I remember correctly, after this match it was the segment between Kofi and Bryan, I was literally flipping out because I expected him not to appear on RAW other than backstage like last week but then the match between the two was bought up. The crowd was so damn active and it was an amazing atmosphere with people joining in with the 20 YES YES YES chants.
After this brilliant segment it was Cena time. As Usual Cena got a mixed reaction from the crowd, it was 50/50 I'd say. The promo was decent, not to corny until he started joining in with the YES YES YES chants which I hate because he sounds stupid when doing it. I liked how he put over Lesnar though and I hope Lesnar kicks his ass. Cena also put Johnny Ace over as the most powerful guy in the company, which was kind of stupid as HHH and Vince still have more power. Ace then came out and said to get Cena ready he'll be in an Extreme Rules match against a mystery opponent in the main event. I wasn't sure who as of yet.
Too many damn fruity pebbles. GTFO!
The camera man next to Cena was dancing along to themes all night, what a fun job.
People power!
Next up it was time for the YES man vs Kofi Kingston. The crowd gave Kofi a decent pop, but it was all about Daniel Bryan, the crowd was really hot for him and I loved the reaction he was getting. Constant YES YES YES chants and I was nearly getting a headache it was that loud. I honestly think this match was great, I don't know how it came off on TV but it seemed to me like a nice little match and the crowd chanting YES every time Bryan connected with some offense, and NO everytime Kofi got some in. Glad Bryan won though! It's a shame this match didn't get longer but Sheamus running in at the end to a few boos was kind of cool. LAOCH indeed.
BOOM!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
After that great segment it was time for the bullshit between Dolph Ziggler and Brodus Clay. Seriously no idea what is going on with Dolph and I didn't care less for the result of it or anything that happened in the match.
I bet Vickie is hotter than Clay's Momma. Fuck you Brodus why don't you squash someone else.
Straight after this poor match we had another pointless bullshit match with Show and Khali teaming up to take on Epico and Primo. YEAH, real good way to get the tag division back on track by teaming up two giants who for all I knew hated each other. The crowd was hot for Show and Khali but I couldn't care less, Primo and Epico are a solid team and they don't deserve this treatment. Of course, they jobbed out, only a select few are allowed to look like they can beat Khali. EDIT: Apparantely Abe Washington showed during this match, but I didn't see him/didn't care.
GIANT......................FWEND!
Andrew just creamed.
Main event time after that pointless tag match, and after remembering the Tensai promo earlier in the show, I thought he'd be Cena's opponent and began chanting Albert. I felt kind of smug when Tensai came out but I kind of doubted that he'd win, due to the fact all he'd done so far is take out meaningless jobbers. Crowd was active during the match with lots of Let's go Cena, Cena Sucks chants, and of course Albert chants. Although it wasn't a Wrestling clinic by any sorts I kind of liked how it all played out, Cena didn't look too Weak and Tensai winning was nice. Tensai was the one looking tall as the show went off the air.
Tensai is fucking massive.
The Dark Match after the show was kind of cool, Jericho vs Punk for the title, but interupted for a DQ by Bryan. Sheamus headed out to save Punk who was being beat down by Bryan and Jericho, but then Rhodes came out, then Show, then Del Rio then Orton so basically it was a brawl. The faces won the brawl but it was still kind of entertaining and it was nice seeing Orton, Rhodes and Jericho who didn't appear on the main show in person for some reason, Jericho not appearing in person confused me especially. I nearly got to slap Sheamus's hand at the end because I went down the steps and was near the bit where the Wrestlers often exit but some prick of a kid crushed me so the angle wasn't right.
After the show I headed back to meet the guys. As we were on our way to meet them more YES YES YES chants begun it was really great. Overall I had a top time and I got some pictures with my friends replicas which are below. One is the US Title Spinner but as you may notice it's not the original design. The belt was re-leathered to a custom design by my good friend Paul Martin, after only seeing his work online, it was really good to meet him in person and this US Title he'd re leathered himself and done a custom design with was great, as were his other re leathers which other guys I had met with had to hand. So contact him for re leathers you won't regret it. Thanks for reading my RAW review/experience, I am going again in November for the Birmingham tapings and hope to see some of you there.
This was taken the day after but it was cool to see the new Olympic stadium.
Great belt!
Paul releathered this one too.
As many of you may know I went to the RAW taping this past Monday, and this is a little write up on my experience.
Having traveled up to the o2 by coach last year, I decided I was never going to go by coach again, I didn't want the long journey and definitely didn't want to travel back the same night like last year. Due to that I traveled down from Manchester on the train. Having met my friend at Liverpool Street because he's scared of traveling alone, we headed off to the Hotel. The Hotel was okay, nothing special, but for £50 a night it was a steal and I'm pleased with booking it as it was so close to the o2. Having relaxed for around 30 minutes we headed off to the o2, it was quite early but we wanted to try and get something to eat/look at the merchandise stand.
Once at the o2 we went to the Merch stand, there wasn't that much on offer and it was kind of disappointing, I was pissed off with the fact that neither Cody Rhodes or Daniel Bryan's new shirts were there, I settled for a new Punk shirt whilst my mate got the new Cena shirt because Rock's was sold out. Later on I heard that Dolph Ziggler was meeting everyone that bought his Pink shirt, I was kind of disappointment but eh, I wouldn't wear the shirt in public anyway. After going to the Merch stand I went to Tesco's to by some beers then I met with some other friends who I met up with at the event last year. It was nice meeting up with the guys again, it kind of made the day better because we're all good Wrestling fans and we have nice discussions each year, we're planning on going to Mania next year too.
Me and the guys.
After meeting the guys outside the Arena we headed into Nandos. It was just like last year and was cool chatting with them all some more. After the meal we headed off to the line to get in the Arena, for some reason it was massive so I'm glad we got in line when we did. I was a little drunk during this time and tried getting some YES YES YES chants going, but no one was joining in and I was worried that they wouldn't happen, all I heard whilst in line was the stupid fucking WOOOOOO chants mostly done by little kids who don't even know who Ric Flair is, eventually there was a few YES YES YES chants thanks to some guys up on an elevator. Finally we got into the arena after about 20 minutes and I was real pumped for the show.
View of the ring.
View of the stage.
We didn't have long to wait Until the first match of the evening, which was a dark match between Alex Riley and Dean Ambrose. Riley got a decent pop and it kind of surprised me. No one knew who Ambrose was, apart from a couple of people including myself, I was chanting his name whilst a typical 'who are ya' chant was made by the crowd. It was an okay match but nothing to write home about, Riley still seems green to me and I hope he gets released, Ambrose looked solid though and I expect a bright future for him.
I took two pics of Ambrose, both were blurry, but I'd rather show these pics then those of the shitty jobber Riley.
Next up was a portion of the Superstars taping.... I seriously don't get why this show is still going, why not scrap it and make NXT 2 hours or something like that? Anyway, first up was Kelly Kelly vs Eve. I don't care about divas feuds at all, and the match didn't do anything to spark my interest again. Vince, please sort this division out, I want to see Divas beating the shit out of each other, not botching and being just eye candy, I know these divas all have potential to be great, and gven the right time and training they could draw more female fans.
Mmmmmmmmm.
Not a huge fan of Eve but I LOVE this pic, might be due to the fact she has stiff nips. EDIT: Calm down people it's a joke....
After the poor divas match we has R-Truth vs Jack Swagger. Truth got a huge pop and Swagger had more a less dead reaction though I did notice a few cheers. It was actually a decent match, back and forth and entertaining, not a classic but certainly decent for Superstars. However, it seemed to drag on quite a bit and at the end of the day I just wanted RAW to happen.
I didn't get got unfortunately....
Stupid Orton mark in front of me ruined the perfect shot. Ah well, him and his friend kept looking around and agreeing with me every time I gave crap to a star or cheered on the Heels.
So, it was finally time for RAW. Before the show went on air, Lillian Garcia came out to sing God Save Our Queen, no idea why she did it, but people boo'd her for it lol.
Looks quite nice in person, nicer than I expected and looks a LOT younger than 45..
RAW time and first up it was Cm Punk vs Mark Henry in a No DQ and No Count Out match for the WWE Championship. For some reason Henry came out before the opening titles and was in the ring when the show began, never understood why they do that and it's kind of pathetic that they do it for a title match. Punk came out to a huge ovation, the crowd was really hot for him and there was as much Punk shirts being worn as there was Cena shirts, perhaps more, I was really pumped for this match. It didn't disappoint with both guys stepping up and putting on a solid match. I liked the inclusion of the chair and how Punk got the finish, didn't expect it to finish that way and expected Punk to instead do some superman antics, but I'm glad they kept it credible and it didn't hurt Henry too much. One thing I didn't like was the predictable changes of momentum during the match but that was the only issue.
Punk's new shirt is pretty damn awesome.
SOMEBODAY GONE GET THEIR ASS KICKED!
After this mini feud with Punk, I honestly wouldn't mind Henry getting a WWE Title run before he calls it a day.
Great finish!
After the match we got a nice promo segment between Punk and Jericho. These guys are perfect together and I hope we get one more match between the two after Extreme Rules. Really confused as to why Jericho wasn't used for the main show though.
Trollin!
Fish and Chips? Yeah sure Punk xD.
The controversial words promo was advertised, I was really pumped for this and couldn't wait.
Here comes the pain.... via big screen!
Next up it was the US Title Match with Santino Marella defending the title against the legendary A-List David Otunga. Santino's entrance was funny with all the Football shirts, I'm surprised he didn't have a Spurs shirt on though. I really wanted Otunga to win this, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. Even though I'm an Otunga mark his in ring skills suck and the match wasn't very good. I marked when Otunga seemingly got the pin on Santino but I then saw Santino's foot on the rope and I got pissed off. The way Otunga flipped over to the other side before the pin to make sure Santino could get his foot on the rope was kind of horrible and the story of the match.
Since when have Harvard Law graduates been posers like this? Doesn't make sense.
Short Lord Tensai promo, I kind of forgot what he said, and had to come back in here to mention it as it relates to something later on.
After that shocker of a match it was time for the controversial words promo. Not got much to say about this, other than the fact it was a brilliant promo. Shame he didn't appear in person but it was expected.
Kane vs Ryder was up next, obviously a blow off match from their feud WWE seemingly forgot about. Ryder jobbed out and became more and more irrelevant. Poor guy, it was going so well, crowd gave him a decent reaction too.
Love this picture!
If I remember correctly, after this match it was the segment between Kofi and Bryan, I was literally flipping out because I expected him not to appear on RAW other than backstage like last week but then the match between the two was bought up. The crowd was so damn active and it was an amazing atmosphere with people joining in with the 20 YES YES YES chants.
After this brilliant segment it was Cena time. As Usual Cena got a mixed reaction from the crowd, it was 50/50 I'd say. The promo was decent, not to corny until he started joining in with the YES YES YES chants which I hate because he sounds stupid when doing it. I liked how he put over Lesnar though and I hope Lesnar kicks his ass. Cena also put Johnny Ace over as the most powerful guy in the company, which was kind of stupid as HHH and Vince still have more power. Ace then came out and said to get Cena ready he'll be in an Extreme Rules match against a mystery opponent in the main event. I wasn't sure who as of yet.
Too many damn fruity pebbles. GTFO!
The camera man next to Cena was dancing along to themes all night, what a fun job.
People power!
Next up it was time for the YES man vs Kofi Kingston. The crowd gave Kofi a decent pop, but it was all about Daniel Bryan, the crowd was really hot for him and I loved the reaction he was getting. Constant YES YES YES chants and I was nearly getting a headache it was that loud. I honestly think this match was great, I don't know how it came off on TV but it seemed to me like a nice little match and the crowd chanting YES every time Bryan connected with some offense, and NO everytime Kofi got some in. Glad Bryan won though! It's a shame this match didn't get longer but Sheamus running in at the end to a few boos was kind of cool. LAOCH indeed.
BOOM!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
After that great segment it was time for the bullshit between Dolph Ziggler and Brodus Clay. Seriously no idea what is going on with Dolph and I didn't care less for the result of it or anything that happened in the match.
I bet Vickie is hotter than Clay's Momma. Fuck you Brodus why don't you squash someone else.
Straight after this poor match we had another pointless bullshit match with Show and Khali teaming up to take on Epico and Primo. YEAH, real good way to get the tag division back on track by teaming up two giants who for all I knew hated each other. The crowd was hot for Show and Khali but I couldn't care less, Primo and Epico are a solid team and they don't deserve this treatment. Of course, they jobbed out, only a select few are allowed to look like they can beat Khali. EDIT: Apparantely Abe Washington showed during this match, but I didn't see him/didn't care.
GIANT......................FWEND!
Andrew just creamed.
Main event time after that pointless tag match, and after remembering the Tensai promo earlier in the show, I thought he'd be Cena's opponent and began chanting Albert. I felt kind of smug when Tensai came out but I kind of doubted that he'd win, due to the fact all he'd done so far is take out meaningless jobbers. Crowd was active during the match with lots of Let's go Cena, Cena Sucks chants, and of course Albert chants. Although it wasn't a Wrestling clinic by any sorts I kind of liked how it all played out, Cena didn't look too Weak and Tensai winning was nice. Tensai was the one looking tall as the show went off the air.
Tensai is fucking massive.
The Dark Match after the show was kind of cool, Jericho vs Punk for the title, but interupted for a DQ by Bryan. Sheamus headed out to save Punk who was being beat down by Bryan and Jericho, but then Rhodes came out, then Show, then Del Rio then Orton so basically it was a brawl. The faces won the brawl but it was still kind of entertaining and it was nice seeing Orton, Rhodes and Jericho who didn't appear on the main show in person for some reason, Jericho not appearing in person confused me especially. I nearly got to slap Sheamus's hand at the end because I went down the steps and was near the bit where the Wrestlers often exit but some prick of a kid crushed me so the angle wasn't right.
After the show I headed back to meet the guys. As we were on our way to meet them more YES YES YES chants begun it was really great. Overall I had a top time and I got some pictures with my friends replicas which are below. One is the US Title Spinner but as you may notice it's not the original design. The belt was re-leathered to a custom design by my good friend Paul Martin, after only seeing his work online, it was really good to meet him in person and this US Title he'd re leathered himself and done a custom design with was great, as were his other re leathers which other guys I had met with had to hand. So contact him for re leathers you won't regret it. Thanks for reading my RAW review/experience, I am going again in November for the Birmingham tapings and hope to see some of you there.
This was taken the day after but it was cool to see the new Olympic stadium.
Great belt!
Paul releathered this one too.
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