Rate RAW 7/13/15

[Rogue]

Rate RAW above and give your thoughts below, if you want.

RAW Recap:
- Brock Lesnar opens up RAW.
- Randy Orton and Ryback defeated Big Show and Sheamus.
- Roman Reigns attacks Bray Wyatt before his match with Dean Ambrose.
- The Bella Twins and Alicia Fox come out for Nikki Bella’s State of the Divas Division speech. Stephanie McMahon interrupts and she brings out Paige, then Becky Lynch and Charlotte. Naomi and Tamina Snuka come out next. Stephanie then introduces NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks. This leads to Sasha pulling Nikki down and a fight starts.
- Mark Henry, Titus O’Neil, and Darren Young defeated The New Day.
- R-Truth defeated King Barrett.
- Rusev defeated Cesaro, and Kevin Owens to face John Cena for the U.S Title.
- Rusev defeated John Cena via disqualification.
- Stardust defeated Neville.
- The ring is set up for a contract signing. Lesnar ends up running Seth off, and takes Kane out. Seth returns after Lesnar leaves and hits Kane to end the show.

Full Results

 

[Jacob Fox]

I am giving this a 7 of 10. The show was much better than recent fare. With the Diva segment and the involvement of Lesnar and Heyman, plus the excellent triple threat match, this was a lot what Raw should be.

I liked:

The opening with Heyman and Lesnar and eventually Rollins was GOLD. Perfect opening to the show.

I loved seeing Reigns get down and dirty and sneak attack Wyatt. That is the kind of thing I think he needs to do more often.

The Diva shakeup was the best thing to happen on the show for me. I was so happy to see such a score of amazing women finally get to show up and be on the main rosters where they belong.

I loved Mark Henry doing the "Millions of Dollars" sway... it is fun seeing that guy enjoy himself

The confrontation at the beginning of the open challenge was great, as was the triple threat with Cesaro, Rusev and Owens.

I liked how Rusev took advantage of Cena's easygoing approach to their match and basically had Cena beat before Owens came out. Plus I enjoyed Owens coming out.

The ending wasn't really that great and I assume that this is not Kane's real plan. I have an idea as to how Rollins is going to get out of this, but not sure how much I want to admit to at the moment. We'll see as the week goes on. I did like how Rollins stopped being wussy towards the end. I think the match with Lesnar is going to be good.


I didn't like:

No one cares about the Barrett and Truth feud. This match has been too overdone

Stardust's return against Neville. It was a boring return and he deserves better.


I was indifferent to:

Didn't really care for the first tag match between Orton/Ryback and Show/Sheamus

Didn't care much for the PTP and Henry match vs New Day. But the after celebration was fun.

 

[Prince Bálor]

This week's episode was good. 7/10
For a second week straight they've managed to hype Battleground in a good way.

Positives:
- The opening segment featuring Heyman, Lesnar and Rollins was good!
- Reigns going berserk and attacking Wyatt.
- THE DEBUT OF BECKY, CHARLOTTE AND SASHA!!! I was so happy to see them. For once they did something right with the divas segment. Don't screw this up with your shoddy booking from here on out, WWE! Just don't!
- Rusev's promos on Cena and KO were hilarious. KO then saying "Take that flag and stick it up your Chernobyl, buddy!" was hilarious, too!
- Rusev vs Cesaro vs KO was great, I enjoyed it! Not only could've this match main-evented RAW, but a PPV, as well.
- Rusev vs Cena was booked well. Cena's cockiness almost cost him the title and the DQ finish made sense.
- The final segment was good.

Negatives:
- Clown Barrett vs Clown Truth. Nobody gives a FF about this feud.
- Stardust's return was meh, boring. Just turn him into Cody again, dammit!

The 'I don't give a toss' about this segment:
- My feelings for tag matches on this show:

Spoiler

- Skipped the Tough Enough stuff.

 

[The GOAT]

The Divas segment was particularly well-done. I would have probably been more satisfied with Paige herself introducing the NXT girls instead of Stephanie hogging all the glory, but it does put more weight behind a possible change coming within the division to have one-half of The Authority introduce them all one at a time instead, so I won't complain. Now let's see if WWE can actually stick to trying to make the division seem worthwhile or how long it'll take for them to screw it up if they can't.

Brock taking out Kane was expected (would have preferred if he had broken both of his ankles with the steel steps, though), but the best moment of that entire end segment was Seth kicking Kane while he was down. It was a small moment, but Seth berating Kane and kicking him while he was still lying on the floor writhing in pain was pretty malicious and really showed just how despicable of a person Rollins' character can be.

 

[I'll See Ya Kia]

The Divas segment was particularly well-done. I would have probably been more satisfied with Paige herself introducing the NXT girls instead of Stephanie hogging all the glory, but it does put more weight behind a possible change coming within the division to have one-half of The Authority introduce them all one at a time instead, so I won't complain. Now let's see if WWE can actually stick to trying to make the division seem worthwhile or how long it'll take for them to screw it up if they can't.

Brock taking out Kane was expected (would have preferred if he had broken both of his ankles with the steel steps, though), but the best moment of that entire end segment was Seth kicking Kane while he was down. It was a small moment, but Seth berating Kane and kicking him while he was still lying on the floor writhing in pain was pretty malicious and really showed just how despicable of a person Rollins' character can be.

Oy Vay, Mr. Lockard, Oy vay.

 

[Jacob Fox]

Brock taking out Kane was expected (would have preferred if he had broken both of his ankles with the steel steps, though), but the best moment of that entire end segment was Seth kicking Kane while he was down. It was a small moment, but Seth berating Kane and kicking him while he was still lying on the floor writhing in pain was pretty malicious and really showed just how despicable of a person Rollins' character can be.

Honestly, I think this is all part of the plan Kane was talking about. Kane's plan wasn't going to be something as simple as an ax handle. I assume that it was 1. Make Lesnar think that Kane is out and Seth stands alone and 2. Have Seth confirm this further by berating Kane.

I think this is all leading into what will end up with Rollins retaining the belt this weekend. Kane will be there and on Rollins side.... and i have a few suspicions as to someone else who might be with him.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Honestly, I think this is all part of the plan Kane was talking about. Kane's plan wasn't going to be something as simple as an ax handle. I assume that it was 1. Make Lesnar think that Kane is out and Seth stands alone and 2. Have Seth confirm this further by berating Kane.

I think this is all leading into what will end up with Rollins retaining the belt this weekend. Kane will be there and on Rollins side.... and i have a few suspicions as to someone else who might be with him.

The more I think about it, the more I see Rollins walking out with the title and still the WWE-WHC.
I'm not cool with Lesnar losing via LOL!SHENANIGANS! and I'm definitely not cool with the match ending in a DQ fashion.
I mean, come on, they can't be THAT stupid to waste one of Lesnar's limited appearances like that.

Rollins losing to Lesnar after putting on a helluva fight and thus triggering a face turn (just in time for SummerSlam) would be the best option.

But unless they're saving Rollins vs Lesnar vs Reigns for SummerSlam, then the ME ending in some crappy fashion wouldn't shock me.

 

[The GOAT]

Honestly, I think this is all part of the plan Kane was talking about. Kane's plan wasn't going to be something as simple as an ax handle. I assume that it was 1. Make Lesnar think that Kane is out and Seth stands alone and 2. Have Seth confirm this further by berating Kane.

I think this is all leading into what will end up with Rollins retaining the belt this weekend. Kane will be there and on Rollins side.... and i have a few suspicions as to someone else who might be with him.

Kane's plan was to get his ankle shattered? :titus:

Now that I think about it, I do recall (and I'm too lazy to go back and check to be sure) Kane mentioning something to Seth about how if his plan worked, only one of them would be left standing by the end of the night. But that's still a really, really lame plan, so there's no way he could have known that kind of physical damage Brock would do to him once he attacked, or that he would specifically target only his ankle (even though he could have worn some kind of metal brace over his leg and ankle in order to ensure the steel steps didn't do any damage HAD he assumed Brock might go there, but still.)

That said, Brock taking out all of The Authority and leaving Rollins left standing on his own does make me think the possibility of someone else coming to Seth's rescue (no, not the Big Show) has widened. Who exactly do you have in mind? And please don't tell me you think it could be the Undertaker...

 

[Jacob Fox]

Kane's plan was to get his ankle shattered? :titus:

That is in no way what I said or implied and you know that. My implication was that Kane would emphasize that he had a plan and that it was not attacking Lesnar with a ax handle. It was that a two part idea:

1. Kane would emphasize the plan and it would end up seeming to be the lame ax handle.

2. Feeding off the previous tension between Rollins and Kane, Rollins would criticize the plan as being stupid and apparently separate with Kane.

3. The separation is a setup to make Rollins appear to be on his own but he's really not.

The Undertaker didn't even cross my mind. There are a few people from NXT that did. The reason I am not mentioning them is that I didn't really feel like having people point out things like "That makes no sense why that person would care about Rollins" when that's not the point.

Lameness is abound in WWE so it shouldn't be a surprise

 

[Prince Bálor]

Hopefully there's some good change on the horizon.

 

[The GOAT]

That is in no way what I said or implied and you know that. My implication was that Kane would emphasize that he had a plan and that it was not attacking Lesnar with a ax handle. It was that a two part idea:

1. Kane would emphasize the plan and it would end up seeming to be the lame ax handle.

2. Feeding off the previous tension between Rollins and Kane, Rollins would criticize the plan as being stupid and apparently separate with Kane.

3. The separation is a setup to make Rollins appear to be on his own but he's really not.

The Undertaker didn't even cross my mind. There are a few people from NXT that did. The reason I am not mentioning them is that I didn't really feel like having people point out things like "That makes no sense why that person would care about Rollins" when that's not the point.

Lameness is abound in WWE so it shouldn't be a surprise

You said the plan was to make it seem like Seth would be all alone. The best way to accomplish that in a 'convincing' manner would be to take an ass-whooping since the alternate idea (as you've laid out here) wouldn't really be any more convincing. Brock would be so easily fooled as to think that Seth and Kane aren't on the same side just because Seth thinks the weapon Kane hid for him was lame?

I only name-dropped the Undertaker because it seems to be a hot, speculative topic over on WF at the moment, especially since that FalconArrow fella seems to have hinted that it might be the swerve they go with.

Either way, I mentioned myself in another thread that this could be the opportunity to retool The Authority a bit if they wanted to by introducing a brand new member to the roster who could serve as a new bodyguard or enforcer for Seth. I don't watch much NXT, but from the looks and sound of him, it might be an ideal role for Baron Corbin to fill in. He'a big motherfucker, 6'8, 275 pounds, etc. I can't see him wrestling Lesnar at Summerslam (like he almost certainly would if he cost him the title at Battleground), but it's an idea.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Just throwing this out there, it wouldn't shock me if Samoa Joe got involved in Lesnar/Rollins match (since we're throwing NXT names around).

Although any screwy finish doesn't sit well with me.

 

[Jacob Fox]

You said the plan was to make it seem like Seth would be all alone. The best way to accomplish that in a 'convincing' manner would be to take an ass-whooping since the alternate idea (as you've laid out here) wouldn't really be any more convincing. Brock would be so easily fooled as to think that Seth and Kane aren't on the same side just because Seth thinks the weapon Kane hid for him was lame?

I only name-dropped the Undertaker because it seems to be a hot, speculative topic over on WF at the moment, especially since that FalconArrow fella seems to have hinted that it might be the swerve they go with.

Either way, I mentioned myself in another thread that this could be the opportunity to retool The Authority a bit if they wanted to by introducing a brand new member to the roster who could serve as a new bodyguard or enforcer for Seth. I don't watch much NXT, but from the looks and sound of him, it might be an ideal role for Baron Corbin to fill in. He'a big motherfucker, 6'8, 275 pounds, etc. I can't see him wrestling Lesnar at Summerslam (like he almost certainly would if he cost him the title at Battleground), but it's an idea.

Did you watch the show? Seth DID berate Kane for the lame idea. That is exactly what he criticized Kane for when he attacked him at the end of the show. He criticized him for telling him throughout the show that he had a plan and it was simply the ax handle. Seth attacked Kane because his plan sucked. He made that perfectly clear when it happened. I didn't pull this idea out of the blue, it is EXACTLY what happened on the show. That is why I am trying to lay out what I think will happen based on what happened. It also ties back in to the fact that Rollins has several times criticized Kane for being too soft now... it was an accusation he apologized for right before Lesnar got attacked.

As far as to what is convincing, the majority of schemes that WWE wrestlers use to trick other wrestlers are not convincing. When a company has an old woman give birth to a hand and has a match where a wrestler has God as their tag team partner, you can't really disqualify a storyline as something they wouldn't try simply because the story is lame and no one would fall for it in real life. This is very typical WWE and more than likely, Kane and Rollins are still together.

Yeah, I think the idea is pretty stupid but it seems about what is going on. i can't believe for the life of me that with Seth Rollins' latest character plus his recent ass kissing of Kane that he is really going to permanently burn bridges with Kane.

 

[Jacob Fox]

Just throwing this out there, it wouldn't shock me if Samoa Joe got involved in Lesnar/Rollins match (since we're throwing NXT names around).

Although any screwy finish doesn't sit well with me.

That was one of my thoughts as well. but I know if I mentioned it, people would be like "Well he's a face so...' I just didn't feel like getting into it.

More than likely, it will just be Kane with his mask back on. It ties into the whole criticism of Kane that Rollins has been doing the past couple months before he apologized.

 

[EvilBlackCat]

You said the plan was to make it seem like Seth would be all alone. The best way to accomplish that in a 'convincing' manner would be to take an ass-whooping since the alternate idea (as you've laid out here) wouldn't really be any more convincing. Brock would be so easily fooled as to think that Seth and Kane aren't on the same side just because Seth thinks the weapon Kane hid for him was lame?

Yes, he said the plan was to make it seem as though his plan was the idiotic idea of Kane attacking Lesnar only to get the crap beat out of him and Seth to freak out so it seems like they've broken up and Seth will be alone when in truth he won't be. What he didn't say what that Kane knew exactly what part of his body Lesnar would go for and exactly what type of injury he would receive.

It's a pretty safe bet that once Lesnar was provoked he was going to beat the crap out of Kane leaving Seth to be angry with Kane for getting the crap beaten out of himself. I don't see why that's hard to follow. On top of that correct me if I'm wrong but you were questioning whether or not Lesnar would fall for that ploy. It's either a trick or it isn't. If it's a trick he falls for it, if it isn't then we all "fall for it" because it's the true story line so I don't get your point there.

Also, just because this is the plan that Kane puts forth doesn't actually mean that it has to work in the end.