Thought it was interesting that they had Seth acknowledge the suspension. Suppose it makes more sense than sweeping it under the rug.

Definitely interesting how they weaved the suspension into the storyline. It makes sense given he's still pushed as part of the PPV main event, but I wouldn't have necessarily expected it. It remains to be seen how this impacts the type of crowd response he sees going foward and whether they tweak his role because of it.

 

Am I the only one who found Cena/Rollins and AJ/Ambrose underwhelming? When those matches were announced I was pretty hyped for them but thought the former was by far the worst of their pairings to date without much flow before the predictable finish, while Ambrose seemed to gel less with AJ than even Jericho did. Not sure what was in the water in Tampa last night.

Actually got to catch Raw with some friends for the first time in awhile. They're all casual viewers, and I gotta say - that opening segment sank like a fucking cinder block for most of 'em. They only went halfway with the thing, which seems sort of pointless. If they're going to touch on the suspension, then Seth might as well come out and spell it out. Just say, "The dude failed a drug test."

 

Then, if they want, have Dean step up and defend his bro a bit. But tip-toeing around the issue made the whole deal seem silly. I understand keeping the kids' gloves on for most things in a PG era, but come on. It is what it is, and if you're going to talk about - then talk about it.

 

Instead, I was kind of left glancing around the room and noticing that NOBODY understood exactly what the fuck Seth was talking about. And these aren't dumb people. These cats are college-educated. They just don't follow wrestling rumors or keep track of wrestling Twitter or anything like that. They're fans of the shows when they can catch 'em. That's all.

 

But I don't understand how the company doesn't realize some of this shit is too "insider" for people to really care about. A guy failing a drug test? That's real world shit that can resonate. People can relate. But God forbid THAT be the story. Instead, let's gloss over it with buzzwords like "Wellness policy" and do our absolute best to make sure nobody REALLY recognizes or realizes what just happened.

 

Just a bizarre piece of business, if you can even call it that.

To swing back around to my original point a bit...

 

Everyone I watched the show with seemed to think the Zayn and Owens segment was tremendous.

 

I don't think that's any coincidence either. The story there is simple, basic stuff that can strike a chord in viewers. They can easily get it. The fight isn't happening on Twitter feeds. Your average Joe can comprehend what has happened. The motivations make sense. The characters behave like human beings.

I wish more programs on WWE television could follow THAT template.

But I don't understand how the company doesn't realize some of this shit is too "insider" for people to really care about. A guy failing a drug test? That's real world shit that can resonate. People can relate. But God forbid THAT be the story. Instead, let's gloss over it with buzzwords like "Wellness policy" and do our absolute best to make sure nobody REALLY recognizes or realizes what just happened.

 

Just a bizarre piece of business, if you can even call it that.

WWE has definitely gone too far with inside shit lately especially when AJ is using lines like "Guys like you bury guys like me" in promos.

It would be very WWE for them to do a storyline where Ambrose or Rollins drugged Roman to set him up for failure or something like that. I think fans would vomit all over that if they tried it, but remember how they made Jeff Hardy's house burning down into a storyline.

They should just admit it was a failed drug test. Their writers should be able to make it a storyline that kids can understand. They can say that Roman made a mistake. He could have done it accidentally or on purpose - for the sake of the story at least. Then Reigns can come back with an angle of redemption.

 

Maybe he conquers the odds at the next big show or maybe he doesn't and this is a learning moment for the character...and the audience. If WWE wants to cater to kids they should be able to write a basic Degrassi (O.G. Degrassi...not this new stuff) kind of story. Then again maybe they can't do anything like that at all. WWE wants to be bland and go the melba toast Bayside High route instead. In the 80s You Can't Do That On Television managed to do an episode about the dangers of drugs. It makes more sense than most of their storylines right now.

I hate the Rollins superplex/falcon arrow combination almost as much as I hate Ambrose's jawbreaker lariat.

Dave thought they were trying to help garner sympathy for Reigns by having Rollins mock his drug test failure. The fans already hate Roman and WWE felt announcing that he failed a drug test would make people feel sorry for him?

So, what is WWE trying to accomplish? Are they wanting to make every "Network Special" feel like a big one by hammering out big matches? Or are they just trying to get through with some of the stuff before the split? Becaus that Shield threeway feels, although logical in storyline, awfully rushed and thrown out an Battleground. You would have thought they'd save it for something special as SummerSlam or WrestleMania. I thought during Raw that maybe they really would go wird adding Cena and Styles, which would have made pefect sense to me. Idk, like I said, this just feels so rushed and wasted.

I agree - especially with the timing of Roman's suspension. It felt like an open opportunity for them to make an adjustment and tweak the booking for Battleground. I saw it suggested somewhere that they run a Triple Threat Tag Team match in its place - and I thought that sounded fresh and unique enough.

 

If nothing else, it would fill up a few weeks of Raw with Seth scouting for "suitable" partners, Dean doing his usual comedy & shtick to find the best Tango to his Cash, and a few guys could even mention in interviews that they are hoping to be selected by Roman for the sake of being in that money "main event" slot.

 

It's not the Shield Triple Threat, for sure. But it would allow them to stretch things out and, oh I don't know, actually promote the thing when Roman's around to participate in the actual program a bit. I mean, it's not the biggest match in the world or anything - but it does feel like something they should put more effort and energy into it than what we're getting.

 

The Triple Threat Tag at Battleground isn't ideal I guess, but it would allow for some creative combinations and oddball pairings for a couple of weeks, even IF the eventual booking was predictable with safe picks like Seth & Styles vs. Roman & Cena and so on. I actually think Dean could have still played the "unpredictable" card by choosing an old rival like Owens or (even better) notable Shield nemesis, Bray Wyatt, as his partner.

 

Plus, if Cena were to step up and volunteer his services to tag with Reigns, he could make it clear that it's a way to get his hands on AJ Styles one more time - BUT it would give him a platform to put forward a message about the drug test & suspension.

 

I realize they're handling the whole thing with kids' gloves, but come on. It happened. They're halfway acknowledging that it happened. There's no point in telling half-truths. Put it out there, let people digest it, and let them react accordingly. The dude failed a drug test. It's a real life issue.

 

Pro wrestling works best when it hinges on heat and selling. Without selling, there's no heat. I understand creating fictional stories and rivalries for your heroes to sell when it's needed, but when a REAL LIFE story is gift-wrapped and dropped in your lap - why on earth would you no-sell THAT? Let him sell the suspension. Let him sell the shit that happened in his real life. It would just feel silly to have him come back and start to sell all the fictional fights and angles within the "Universe", while blatantly ignoring what just occurred to him in real life. And that's part of the problem with them wading through the social media pool. They want to select when and where they acknowledge the stuff outside of their control. But that's another issue entirely.

So yeah. Roman showing up and pretending like the suspension never happened would be one of the dumbest things they could possibly do, and yet I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's the route they take. Here's hoping I'm wrong and they actually allow the guy to behave like a human being when he returns though.

Roman won't come back and ignore the suspension, if anything he's going to come back and cut a promo about how he made a mistake and ask for forgiveness from his fans while the crowd tears him to shreds. It would probably actually be better if he did ignore it. Not looking forward to "STE-ROIDS" chants overwhelming the shows. They will continue to push him as babyface and chalk it up to fans just being silly. This company is so stubborn this suspension won't change a thing.

I don't really see this triple threat as that "special" of a match, considering the amount of times all three have wrestled each other in singles and they just had the four way on PPV last year with Orton which was close enough for me.

Dave thought they were trying to help garner sympathy for Reigns by having Rollins mock his drug test failure. The fans already hate Roman and WWE felt announcing that he failed a drug test would make people feel sorry for him?

 

Same as how they really felt he would be a face against Rollins valiantly coming back from injury to regain the title he never lost. It's like Vince is Will Smith in that episode of The Fresh Prince when he dad comes back only to leave him again. I can just picture Vince all teary-eyed asking Hunter "why don't they want him?"

So the Lesnar-Orton match at SummerSlam isn't sending pulses racing here, huh?

No wonder, Randy Orton is the death of all excitment, the black hole of interest, the void of worlds.

Curious to see what they put together. Orton isn't the type to take a truckload of punishment.

I am actually genuinely curious about Orton vs Brock. Orton doesn't seem like the type of company man who would come back from injury just to put himself in a typical "Brock guzzles you and takes you to Suplex City" match.

They forgot when building up Brock Lesnar that it takes two guys to have a match. They won't see any return on their investment until they build up an opponent for him that people see at his level.

I'm not worried about Randy Orton going to Suplex City. I'm more worried about Brock Lesnar going to Chinlock Town, the least exciting place on earth. And if Brock goes, all of us are getting dragged along for the long, boring ride. Whether we want to go or not.

They forgot when building up Brock Lesnar that it takes two guys to have a match. They won't see any return on their investment until they build up an opponent for him that people see at his level.

 

This. I'm all about basically every single Brock match. Whether its the Houston house show against Sheamus or MSG against Big Show, two members of the roster I'd rather see disappear. Why not create an issue with him and Orton, or somehow try and build up Orton before throwing this together out of nowhere? Turns out I'm going to be away on vacation during Summerslam (and unfortunately for Takeover and Connor/Diaz 2), but I'm still a Brock mark so its interesting. But every single outing of his should be a marquee, WWE-ized Mayweather event and instead its just not. It'll likely be a very good, and potentially great, match. But why not maximize the box office and intrigue?

Haha...Chinlock Town. Brilliant

 

 

They forgot when building up Brock Lesnar that it takes two guys to have a match. They won't see any return on their investment until they build up an opponent for him that people see at his level.

This. I'm all about basically every single Brock match. Whether its the Houston house show against Sheamus or MSG against Big Show, two members of the roster I'd rather see disappear. Why not create an issue with him and Orton, or somehow try and build up Orton before throwing this together out of nowhere? Turns out I'm going to be away on vacation during Summerslam (and unfortunately for Takeover and Connor/Diaz 2), but I'm still a Brock mark so its interesting. But every single outing of his should be a marquee, WWE-ized Mayweather event and instead its just not. It'll likely be a very good, and potentially great, match. But why not maximize the box office and intrigue?

Maybe the Bray Wyatt thing falling apart has them gun shy with traditional story telling with Lesnar?

 

It worked with Taker and Punk because elements for the stories were in place. Take the title scene out of the picture for Brock, it seems hard to generate an out of nowhere (no pun intended) instafeud.

Well, they can go back to the old "Everything is fake, but Lesnar is real, he just won an MMA match". Always worked well in the past...