WWE Raw: The Road to WrestleMania
February 12, 2015 11:28 AM - Season 23, Episode 24 - Subscribe

It's been a few weeks since the last Raw post, and we've been through the Rumble and NXT Takeover: Rival.

The Lesnar-Reigns WM main event is looking less likely with every week, as Reigns gets heelisher, the Yes Movement gets louder, and the Rock stays the hell away from his cousin after being booed at the Rumble.

And in the more wrestling-oriented part of the WWE, Kevin Owens pulls a Lesnar, dominating Sami Zayn to the point that the ref stopped the match, and Finn Balor wins the #1 contendership.
posted by Etrigan (15 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
The NXT Women's Title championship 4-way from Rival is match of the year contender for me, no qualifications. Seriously, it was so good.
posted by misskaz at 12:21 PM on February 16, 2015


I'm with you misskaz. A few years ago my friend and I used to comment that TNA women's matches were better than any match on RAW or SD! that week (sadly this has not really continued to be the consistent case with the Knockouts division). While watching the NXT match the first thing that I thought was "damn, this is as good as one of those Knockouts matches of yore."

I also always thought that Natty v Paige last year was a MOTY candidate. Which is extra depressing, because of how terribly the two of them are used on RAW most of the time these days.

(If I'm allowed to further cross the streams here, having already brought up TNA, I found this clip via reddit and could not agree with the sentiment more, even if the Bellas are not the talent I would have first in line to give more time to)
posted by jermsplan at 7:43 PM on February 16, 2015


Thanks for linking that Brie video! I had heard something about her saying she wouldn't want to be called up if she were on NXT but I hadn't seen the actual clip. She's speaking nothing but the truth; I just hope she doesn't get in trouble for it.
posted by misskaz at 7:09 AM on February 17, 2015


(If I'm allowed to further cross the streams here, having already brought up TNA, I found this clip yt via reddit and could not agree with the sentiment more, even if the Bellas are not the talent I would have first in line to give more time to)

The thing is, if the Women's Division was given the time that it deserves, it wouldn't matter who was first in line. Raw and Smackdown are both really long; and each of them covers this by being about 35% filler (endless replays and opening speeches that go on way too long). Drop the filler down to 10%, and you have more than enough time to showcase every woman on the roster.

Although there are other women that I like better than the Bellas (Naomi pulls out shit I've never seen before every single week), I won't knock them. They both work a strong, stiff style and have put on some killer matches (Brie vs. Stephanie at Summerslam told a great story, and everything in it looked like it hurt). When WWE gives the Bellas or nearly any of the women on the roster the time necessary to tell a great story and show what they can do, the results are impressive.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 4:39 PM on February 20, 2015


The Paige Tap Out is my favorite submission move in wrestling right now. I was genuinely surprised when Reigns beat Bryan. Rusev beating Cena was fun, but I honestly don't see how Rusev gets out of this feud without losing, and I don't want Cena to be the US Champ at all. I cannot fathom the value in having Bray vs. Taker at WrestleMania. #GiveDivasAChange #GiveTruthAChance #AxelMania
posted by jermsplan at 9:08 AM on February 26, 2015


In re #GiveDivasAChance, apparently Stephanie McMahon was pissed as hell at AJ, and it was Vince who talked her down (or at least, it was Vince who forced her to grit her teeth and reply from the high road).
posted by Etrigan at 11:18 AM on February 26, 2015


Wow, Steph's response was cold as hell. I can understand her being upset to have an employee call her out in public, but you'd think Steph would be completely behind the hashtag (which I now see I typo'd in my first comment, not intentional). Would have looked less awkward for Steph to come out as generally pro #GiveDivasAChance without that direct response to AJ. Might as well have added #GoodLuckInFutureEndeavors
posted by jermsplan at 2:03 PM on February 26, 2015


Might as well have added #GoodLuckInFutureEndeavors

I figure that AJ is as unfireable as anyone in the entire company right now -- they drop her for anything short of taking a dump in the middle of the ring on Raw, and she sues their asses off for retaliating against her because of her husband.
posted by Etrigan at 2:11 PM on February 26, 2015


It astounds me at how much WWE pushes social media and yet is so clueless about it.

If the WWE were to fire AJ over this, #givedivasachance is NOTHING compared to the shit storm that would ensue - and probably get mainstream (bad) press.
posted by misskaz at 3:14 PM on February 26, 2015


AXELMANIA
posted by Etrigan at 2:04 PM on March 2, 2015


Last night's Raw was really entertaining to me! Jon Stewart was perfect, Heyman spitting fire was awesome, I even liked Stephanie being all mean to Cena.
posted by misskaz at 6:33 AM on March 3, 2015


I even liked Stephanie being all mean to Cena.

Oh my god, that picture of her and Andre. Sometimes I wonder what it must have been like to grow up in that household, and I can't even fathom it. "Oh, hey, it's Uncle Andre. He picks me up sometimes. He's neat."
posted by Etrigan at 7:27 AM on March 3, 2015


I really liked RAW too, and thought Heyman was amazing. Had to chuckle when he made the snide remark about Andre being dead after the whole Steph/Cena thing, though. Can only imagine Steph was throwing a fit backstage at his disrespect.

I was impressed Rollins managed to not make a fool of himself by getting in over his head verbally with Stewart. I'll also be super impressed if creative manages to turn a throwaway jab at a popculture figure into an appearance by that figure and into the nagging doubt that causes Rollins to question and eventually leave the Authority. (It did all start with a throwaway jab, right? How big a mark am I? Has this entire angle been planned all along?)

#AXELMANIA (the timer will stop when he gets tossed from the Andre The Giant Memorial match, right?)
posted by jermsplan at 12:32 PM on March 3, 2015


THE TIMER WILL NEVER STOP.

(It did all start with a throwaway jab, right? How big a mark am I? Has this entire angle been planned all along?)

I tend to glaze over during Rollins' promos (well, during everyone's promos these days (except Heyman)), but I don't recall him calling out random pop culture figures before, and Stewart is an odd choice anyway. I'm about 90 percent sure that it was pre-planned (especially if it goes on past this week).
posted by Etrigan at 12:44 PM on March 3, 2015


random thoughts -

Even though it seems silly for what is theoretically the #2 (men's) belt, I'm really enjoying the IC Title situation right now. I'm not entirely clear how Stardust got his name in the hat, but he's a good performer so I'm not upset. That crew should put on one hell of a match assuming the ladders don't conspire against them.

Bray is doing as good a job as a guy can building a feud with a person who only shows up at WM, but this is one I really don't understand. Undertaker doesn't resurrect the streak by beating Bray, and having Taker lose to Bray to pass some sort of "face of fear" torch seems unnecessary. Not really sure what I hope to see in this match.

WWE apparently felt that pretending to #GiveDivasAChance for a single week would pacify everyone.

Paul Heyman is the best thing going in WWE right now, and whatever they're paying him isn't enough. He might be singlehandedly saving Wrestlemania with his promos lately.

At this point I feel like we've all agreed heel Cena can never happen, but I'm sort of intrigued by the possibility that he could go straight up crazy at WM and get DQed in the process of nearly killing Rusev out of some misguided need to defend the USA's pride giving him the win, ending the feud, showing us the darkest side of Cena we've ever seen, but ultimately keeping the belt off Cena.
posted by jermsplan at 12:55 PM on March 11, 2015


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