CM Punk has been that over on shows. Bryan himself has been that over when they have the big city/smart crowds, and pretty damn over in most places in general. It was a great reaction and great crowd to be sure, but that's not atypical for WWE PPV or post-PPV RAW crowds

 

Shit, the night after WM Fandaaaaaaango was that over, lol

I think that the reaction in and of itself is notable, regardless of following the product or not. Who was the last guy that over with a crowd in your estimation?

Did you see the night after Mania Raws from this year or last year?

No, I didn't despite people telling me to watch the London show.

 

I actually have Sky Sports again now so I could in theory watch Raw again if I wanted to.

 

My impression of shows in the past 5 years or so -- and this could be skewed by the fact it's mostly Mania cards -- is that WWE crowds are more apathetic in general than crowds from the period I typically watch (80s / early 90s).

 

That's why I was a bit shocked by the reaction for Bryan at SS. Bryan on that show was probably more over than Sting in 89, not an exaggeration.

Mania crowds have been crap for a while, it must be the oversized outdoor setting that kills it. PPV's usually have that kind of heat and so does every other Raw, although with three hours and mid card guys that get no direction there's always dead bits.

Mania crowds have been crap for a while, it must be the oversized outdoor setting that kills it. PPV's usually have that kind of heat and so does every other Raw, although with three hours and mid card guys that get no direction there's always dead bits.

If this is true, WWE is in a really really good place right now. That SS crowd rivals any Crockett crowd I've seen to date, which would be the benchmark "hot" crowds for me. Although I guess WWE do probably do a better job on acoustics now than JCP did back in the 80s.

Mania crowds have been crap for a while, it must be the oversized outdoor setting that kills it. PPV's usually have that kind of heat and so does every other Raw, although with three hours and mid card guys that get no direction there's always dead bits.

If this is true, WWE is in a really really good place right now. That SS crowd rivals any Crockett crowd I've seen to date, which would be the benchmark "hot" crowds for me. Although I guess WWE do probably do a better job on acoustics now than JCP did back in the 80s.

 

I try and watch most WWE PPVs and I'm with you on this tbh, I thought the Summerslam crowd, especially for the main, was hotter than I'd heard in a while but, like I said in the thread, I was streaming it through crappy laptop speakers so I think it's hard to judge. I remember the Payback (I think it was Payback) crowd was hot for the Del Rio/Ziggler double turn angle so they have guys people want to invest in, they just need to give them a reason.

So I finally managed to watch Punk/Lesnar and Cena/Bryan. The former has been getting pretty much universal praise and I don't have much to add on that front, so I'll just say that it was fucking awesome. It looks like it may have to eat my words, because it has a serious shot at surpassing Okada/Tanahashi in my MOTY rankings. I don't know that it was better than Cena/Lesnar, but it ended the way the Cena match should have. I didn't think Cena/Bryan was nearly as good, and there were quite a few moments that annoyed me. I found the slapfight near the end particularly cringeworthy. Still, it felt like an epic title match, and Bryan winning felt like a big moment, so it's an easy thumbs-up.

I think it's interesting how people react to the slap fight sequence because some have loathed and others myself included have loved it to the point where I think it was a legitimately great spot and one of the main reasons I would rate it over Brock/Punk

I had missed the promo setting it up. I do mean to rewatch the match at some point.

Yeah, it's all about the call back to the promo. I think I still would've liked it even without the promo, but given the promo I went nuts for it during the match. Just flipped out when Cena whacked Bryan and told him to hit him back.