New Orleans, baby!

 

Brock Lesnar returns!

Will Kalisto get a US Title shot?

Ambrose and Owens continue their feud.

Will Becky get revenge on the Flairs?

 

All of that is hyped, but will the Balor Club invade?

Speaking of Balor Club, I'm guessing that this is how they're debuting him on the main roster? Gallows and Anderson as the team of the stable, Styles and Balor as the singles guys. Push Balor, build up the Styles face turn and build to a match between them? That could be wild.

Don't for get the Japanese fellow as well.

What I would love is some kind of NXT Invasion ala the nWo which leads to NXT taking over Smackdown and that becoming an NXT show with different production and the NXT writers. Just like what the nWo plans were. That would be a true brand expansion I could get behind.

 

Plus you can have guys like Owens and Sasha join up or whatever as needed.

I think if you are ever going to make Smackdown anything other than the B show that no one watches, they are going to have to give it a separate identity. I can certainly think of worse uses for that time than to highlight a hot NXT brand. I think since NXT on the Network is such a highlight, even on tape delay, that it could be an option.

So I guess when Stardust dies a death tonight, they can claim they're being topical? (Too soon?)

This is the 5th straight Raw to open up with a Roman v Steph talking segment in some form. Vince's return is already kinda losing its luster

Vince saying BOOTY made me laugh, I mean, I'll give it that much.

 

Sheamus juicing hardway for pretty much no good reason was a little weird.

 

Stardust doing a Bowie tribute facepaint was pretty cool.

I'm sure when New Day reunites in 2031 for nostalgia run they'll seem just as lame as Chris Jericho does 15 years past his prime. But the crowd gives him a great reception, and they seem to love that "rooty tooty booty" thing, so what are you gonna do?

Chris Jericho is making me second guess being a pro-wrestling fan.

I wouldn't go quite that far but it's pretty close.

 

Anyone having to sell fear of Jericho is completely ridiculous. Jericho assaulting a musical instrument while A BAND NERD CRIES is the worst kind of high school fanfiction.

Would be a a great start at building a new star if Kalisto wins tonight.

Great Kalisto/Del Rio match.

 

Nice to see them go off the board and reward a guy that has been on fire for weeks. Kalisto is really good at working big man vs. little man and I really don't mind his theme of working underdog but winning because he's so solid at it.

Why am I annoyed that they didn't do that on the first USA Smackdown? I have no horse in the race, no stake in WWE, but I am still annoyed.

Brock in the Royal Rumble gives me hope that they actually do the right thing with Brock vs Reigns at WM for the title.

To be honest Reigns seemed more over a month ago when this Vince thing started then he does now. I can't call this a success yet. Crowd was pretty dead for main event till Brock showed up

I hope we get Brock vs Sheamus at some point

It's pointless to even say, and he's just awful in general, but my god JBL was terrible during that Stardust match. It's cool he googled David Bowie before the show, but fucking hell, every time Cody moved it was "Looka that Mawgul, the return of the thin white duke!" Like a shittier Texan Matt Striker.

This was the first Raw I've watched in a long time, I think since The Shield break up angle or when Bryan came back for a spell last year. I tend to come and go with Raw depending on when it's good, and I honestly have not been able to be bothered in a long time. But, DAMN, it is pretty much a night and day difference from when I stopped watching. That crowd couldn't be bothered to care at all, and the show is just fucking listless. The ADR/Kalisto match was cool, and it's awesome that Kalisto got the win. But beyond that...yeesh. It's boring. Brock woke the crowd up at the end, but even still, it wasn't anything crazy.

 

Looks like I'll be watching the Rumble and Mania, but ignoring everything else save NXT.

 

It's weird to think, though, that WWE was on fire not that long ago, even with their missteps.

Watching Reigns-Owens got me thinking about a couple of things:

 

1)they need new new agents because whoever laid the main event out is an idiot

 

2)how many guys on the roster can actually work an interesting control segment?

 

3)Cole is saying Reigns "will never give up" and they're having having him "fight the odds" and look like a wimp, honestly I'm amazed Reigns is as over as he is now

I liked that during the main event angle that the Wyatts were there but didn't actively participate in any of the physicality. I think its tonally consistant that they would want to be present to see arch nemisis Roman Reigns get the S kicked out of him but wouldn't want to do the bidding of the corporate heirarchy of the WWE. It also let them not get fed to the Brock and they can save that interaction for the Rumble rather than blowing it off here. I liked that little bit of side story.

Last night felt like a very, very strong tease for Brock/Roman 2 at Mania. Am I way off base there?

Last night felt like a very, very strong tease for Brock/Roman 2 at Mania. Am I way off base there?

I think we won't know until after the Rumble. They might view the Rumble as the blowoff and have Reigns get over on him in the final 2 or something. Or they could have someone (Rock maybe? Owens?) cost Brock the Rumble win to set up a different opponent for Brock at WM. Or they might give us just enough of them at the Rumble to set up the match at WM. It's tough to say where they are going with it right now.

Last night felt like a very, very strong tease for Brock/Roman 2 at Mania. Am I way off base there?

I still think it will be Roman/HHH

If the idea was to tease Roman-Brock for WM, I figured the announcers would say "This is the first time these two have crossed paths since last year at Wrestlemania" or something to that effect.