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I liked the end. Teasing a match between a reunited Evolution and The Shield - that match will be great. Build it like they did with the Wyatt feud... the build up to that match was great and added such anticipation to the actual match. Definitely wouldn't complain to a similar build to this one.
Love that Cesaro is now a Heyman guy. Great worker, and fans actually care about him and can see that he's great. Unlike with Axel, where no one cared and was booked like a chump before and during his Heyman reign. Cesaro will likely get more of a CM Punk kind of treatment in that he's a Heyman guy that people like and wins matches without looking like a chump. Will certainly elevate Cesaro which is good news.
Everything about Summer Rae is sexy apart from her face.
Chris Jericho said it best. As of sunday we entered a new WWE era.
Expect the next decade to be dominated by Bryan, Cesaro, Shield, Wyatts and probably Paige since the Divas division is not hard to become a major part of.
The streak ending stunned everyone me included. Bryan getting his win was a true WrestleMania moment. But overall I feel rejuvenated as a wrestling fan. Everything feels fresh or exciting. Extreme Rules has no matches booked but still the potential to be the best Extreme Rules to date.
Its a good time to be a wrestling fan.
Thanks Taker_2004 for the banner!
Well, this is always going to be possibly the one Raw of the year with the greatest potential, so I have been looking forward to watching this and thought I might as well write down my thoughts as the show progresses. So the usual disclaimer applies that this is not technically a review, but simply my thoughts on the show as I watch
HOUR ONE
The show starts with the inspirational underdog video of Daniel Bryan, and the video package is done brilliantly, I saw it for the first time on the WM Pre Show and thought the same then, it makes it look like he was made for that WM moment and the last god knows how many years have all purposely been building towards that moment.
And the best way to kick off Raw, is don't let the fans wait, here comes the New World Champion, I am hoping they will get rid of the 2 titles now, there is no need for 2 anymore unless they are going to split them again at some point. The crowd being Hot at this point was to be expected, so we still dont get an idea if it is going to be as wild and crazy as last year, because last year it was the crowd that made the show... Maybe I can take that back, if the crowd keep this intensity up all night, its going to be awesome. Just saw the 'YES YES YES' side plate on the WWE title, looks pretty cool as well.
D-Bry does his little speech thanking the fans and then out comes Triple H, before Wrestlemania, this would be the point I would imagine Vince McMahon would come out and say they have over stepped their power and become the Good Authority figure, but after WM, I just don't know anymore, anything could happen.. Doink could come out for all I know, WWE-Post-Streak is an unknown quantity. Triple H makes the main event of him against D-Bry for the title but uses the same excuses about going to end the YES movement, and then when he said "This is my show" I was really expecting Vince McMahon to turn up, but nup.. it didn't happen...
Backstage Batista and Randy approach Triple h wanting their shots, but they get told they will get them but not tonight, Steph tries to offer them a tag title shot to appease them... Then Triple H teases a Evolution reunion of sorts..
Bray Wyatt out next, I am looking forward to this, he was awesome at Wrestlemanaia, regardless of the result, Bray won that matchup... Expecting the crowd to sing 'He has the whole world in his hands' tonight after the attempts last night... So its not an interview, its The Wyats vs Cena, Sheamus and Big E.. the match begins and the crowd love Bray, also I guess it helps they don't like Cena.. The Crowd were hot for the Wyatt's and Booing everything Sheamus and Big E did, but Big E managed to win them over slightly with some good show of strength, that was only temporary though as soon as Big E left the ring, the crowd went back to Booing haha. The Wyatts looked amazing in this match, and their energy matched the crowds enthusiasm entirely and BRay doing the crab walk was awesome haha.
Summer Rae is out next, with her valet, I guess they wanted to take advantage of this crowd and get the crowd Fandango-ing yet again... its Sumer Rae and her valet vs 2 idiots in Santino and Emma... I am guessing this is the comedy relief segment/match... The match didnt last long though thankfully..
HOUR TWO
Brock Lesner is coming out to kick off the second hour, sporting a nice Black Eye... As shocked as I was lat night, I have been looking forward to Heymans promo now... The crowd were Booing Lesner, but not the entire crowd, very mixed response as people didnt seem to know how to react at first to Lesner... That ended I guess with a Bullshit chant at the mention of the Streak being conquered Ha... Heymans speech was winning the crowd over though... Heyman talks about Vince leaving with Taker in the ambulance, never mentioned that Lesner and Heyman were both with him as well though, wouldn't have the same effect to show everyone cares about each other. Was a great Promo by Heyman and the crowd couldn't keep up the Boo's throughout as they cheered bits, then seemed to realise they were cheering Lesner and began Boo'ing again.
Batista and Randy out next to take on The Usos.. This wasnt really a match as Evolution just decimated The Usos, on the outside, then stood in the ring with their arms raised... The crowd were not really into this match, so it was a good thing it was over quick I guess and showed that Randy and Batista are not bpthered about anything else except their title shots at D-Bry.
RVD returns and is taking on Damien Sandow and RVD wins a pretty quick match ad proves an acceptable return for Rob Van Dam.
Rey Rey is out next as he is taking on Wade Barrett... The crowd were nicely behind Bad News Barrett, as the Post WM crowd is often international in nature and they were always going to like Barrett... Rey Rey was Booed a lot through the match which seemed to surprise him in places, but the crowd were let happy as Barrett wins the match.
Alexander Rusev is up next as he takes on Barry Horowitz.. Oh my bad, its someone with a worse record than Horrowitz, its Zack Ryder... The match had the same feeling as a Barry Horrowitz match though, was only going to ever be one outcome... a dominating performance by Rusev.. but the crowd was pretty dead throughout except for one USA chant that went around.
HOUR THREE
The Go Home hour is started off by The Ultimate Warrior, and he actually walks to the ring HA... Warrior puts on a merchandise plug in the Warrior face mask and suddenly his personality split and The Ultimate Warrior takes over and talks... Erm... Not sue what that was all about to be honest...
AJ Lee is out next with a microphone in hand and just like her boyfriend, talks about how many days she has been champion.. 295... impressive... She talks about how none of the Divas could prove her wrong... 'The Best Diva In The World' tag line haha, brings about a nice CM Punk chant... bring out Paige.. Please... Whoa.... OMG... I never thought it would actually happen, I have been asking for this for 294 days.... Paige is here!!! AJ volunteers to fight Paige who does her best to act humble and say she is not ready... I expected this moment to go better with Paige challenging AJ.. but here we go, we have a title match, lets hope for the 123 Kidd story... WOW.. the ending was a bit messed up... but they have time to fix this over time.. A NEW Divas champion... WOW... 123 Kidd time again..
Even though they technically presented Cesaro with the trophy last night, this is going to be a god excuse for Hulk Hogan to be on the show and get Cesaro in the ring as well and let the face turn continue... Zeb takes the mic off Cesaro, this is going to end hopefully with Cesaro leaving Zeb... Cesaro doesnt look impressed with what Zeb is saying and takes the mic off him and says he isn't a Zeb Colter guy... Cearo announces he is a PAUL HEYMAN guy... OMG... haha... Awesome... brings about a huge YES YES chant... Jack Swagger comes and destroys the trophy.. Poor Andre... Leads us into a match and Heyman is holding the Andre stature from the trophy, at least that has been saved... Swagger leaves and is counted out, the crowd dont like it and the King of Swing wins...
Backstage The Shield is talking with Steph and Kane.. and you kind of guess where this is going especially when Kane tells them that it was Triple H who told Kane to have them decimated on Smackdown a few weeks ago...
Daniel Bryan comes out and here comes Randy and Batista to beat down Bryan before the match... and RKO and Batista Bomb Bryan, then Kane comes out and Choke Slams him.. The crowd chant for the Hounds of Justice and when they don't show, they chant for 3MB but they don't show either.... Now HHH comes out... The ref didn't want to ring the bell as D-Bry is in no condition to compete, but he is ordered to ring the bell... and here comes The Shield... Here to prevent an injustice.. We get a stand off with Sheild on one side and Randy, Kane and Batista on other side.. and here we go... I guess the Title match is not happeneing...
Shield surround Triple H and then D-Bry knees him, and the crowd Boo as Triple H escapes a triple powerbomb...
Not a great ending to Raw...
This show didnt go how i expected it to at all, and I am honesty not sure what to think of it... everything I thought would happen didn't... No Vince McMahon after Triple H had set up his return with the "My show" talk etc.. and The closest we got to seeing Sting, was the guy in the front row with the Sting face paint on.. There was no Dolph Ziggler on the show either, this had to be a way to keep the crowd quiet... Overall the crowd started off soo Hot and then they quickly seemed to die down except for a few bits and pieces, definitely not a patch on last years post WM crowd and not as raucous as I am guessing everyone expected, and perhaps this was by design...
It was a good Raw, but never quite lived up to the expectations of a post WM Raw in my view... The results were great and Shield joining D-Bry by design cements their face turn etc.. but I think how they went about some of the things could have been done a lot better.... Paige and AJ could have gone better, even the promo could have gone better... Heyman being the advocate for King of Swing could have gone better.. Shield saving D-Bry could have gone better... Raw delivered the results, but the methods were questionable I thought and it was these methods that kind of killed the crowd during alot of it.. again, was this by design?
Last edited by Belly (Tue-8-Apr-2014 10:02:18)