January 2, 20187 yr comment_5826318 What a fine episode of RAW. Some matches got bigger length, which helped the show actually. JJ/Cesaro, Joe/Roman (as usual) and specially Asuka/Bliss were a blast. Crews/Wyatt was okay, which is better than what we usually get from Bray. Braun and Roman remain the most over names on the show.
January 2, 20187 yr comment_5826325 Missed JJ/Cesaro, but got a chance to see Joe-Roman and Asuka-Bliss. I loved both. Asuka-Bliss was great for being worked in such an antithetical way. How often in WWE do you see such slow building matches that start with a lockup and the babyface mocking the heel, followed by a heel bailing outside and arguing with the ref before trying something different and all of that? Really old school layout. I dug it a lot. Joe-Roman was probably the first stellar match of the year. Tremendous. If Styles-Zayn delivers, that's a strong week of TV.
January 2, 20187 yr Author comment_5826334 Watched it now. The three matches listed above were well worth your time.
January 2, 20187 yr comment_5826337 Also, shout out to Goldust being in a 205 Live match and being the best performer there.
January 2, 20187 yr comment_5826347 Loved Roman vs. Joe. I really don't get this common refrain that Roman 'has no character' when he clearly does. He's very loyal and protective of his friends and will beat the shit out of anyone who comes after them. What's not to get? Great performance from both wrestlers last night, I totally bought that nearfall. Gonna go against the grain on Alexa vs. Asuka. I did like at first how Alexa was showing cowardice and Asuka's quite charismatic with her trolling, but Alexa's selling of Asuka's strikes was atrocious. It's like she's terrified of being hit.
January 2, 20187 yr comment_5826348 Watching the show this morning... Kurt Angle mentioned that the women's Rumble will be fought under the same rules as the men's. I find it hard to believe they'll do 2 minutes for entrances as that would mean 2 hour-long "matches." Maybe 90 seconds? I just rewatched the 95' Rumble and the 60-second rule made things go way too fast to feel "big." I feel like it really tainted Michaels' victory as him sticking around for 40 minutes just didn't feel too impressive compared to what Flair did in 92' or even what DiBiase and Martel did in the years prior. (Obviously the lack of roster depth in 95' also tainted HBK's first win too) I enjoyed the Asuka/Alexa match more than the crowd seemed to. This match wouldn't of gotten "Fight Forever" chants in front of an NXT crowd or anything, but I do think the audience kind of slept on a well-worked match that started with some decent grappling, featured some good consistent character work, and served its purpose to build up to their eventual title match. EDIT: Glad to see others like Asuka/Bliss too. I was sure there'd be responses putting the match down as "tone deaf" and "heatless" because the crowd didn't react huge to everything they did.
January 2, 20187 yr comment_5826368 The match was fine, but Alexa's run as champ really exposes that for as great as she is as a character/performer she kinda sucks at the actual wrestling part.
January 2, 20187 yr comment_5826370 If they had protected Kane at all in the past 10- 15 years or so then bringing him back for these sort big matches would mean something. Instead its a guy who has lost a lot of unimportant matches on TV in recent years being brought back and put in the main event of a PPV.
January 2, 20187 yr comment_5826382 I don't think the girls are going over the top to the floor They've already stated it's an over the top rope battle royale. Funny enough, I'd more expect the women they bring back from the Attitude Era to fill it out less likely/able to bump over the top rope.
January 3, 20187 yr comment_5826421 SmackDown's tag team scene might be the only reason to watch the show until they decide to give Mojo Rawley SOMETHING to do. Also, nice to see Becky back.
January 3, 20187 yr comment_5826437 Christ. Sami/KO as the discount version of JeriKO does not make for a good pairing and this fucking main event angle is making EVERYONE look dumb
January 3, 20187 yr comment_5826453 Zayn has really committed himself as a heel and while he and Styles had a good match, it was far below the quality two guys at that level should have. I think the issue is that working heel negates his natural babyface charisma and he mutes his offense in a way that doesn't suit him. He is capable of playing a heel, sure, and he's really good at the obnoxious heel role. And hey, he has something to do now at least, and he's in the top mix. I'm hopeful that with more time he can make it click, but I still think he's destined to be a babyface long-term. The problem is that historically, there are more cases of undersized obnoxious heels getting chances on top than plucky babyfaces.
January 3, 20187 yr comment_5826457 I don't think the girls are going over the top to the floor WTF? You can't be serious?
January 3, 20187 yr comment_5826465 Was at SDL with the wife... Had a good time. Mojo and Ryder had a dark match before the show which Mojo won. Thought the women's match dragged, but the post match stuff with Charlotte, Naomi and Becky got a huge pop. Weird there was no Nakamura or Roode, but the post show dark match was Styles, Nakamura and Roode vs. Owens, Zayn and Mahal. I'm not a huge WWE fan (plus I'm dead tired and have to head to work early in the AM), so I headed out during Tozawa vs. TJP. A lot of people hit the door once the SDL tapings were over.
January 3, 20187 yr comment_5826468 Rusev is destined to be the muse for the post Mania RAW crowd this year.
January 3, 20187 yr comment_5826485 Kurt Angle is replacing Enzo in the "Mixed match challenge". I guess Enzo must be real sick if he's going to miss this much time I guess he meant he's replacing with another wrestler not wrestling himself
January 5, 20187 yr comment_5826775 SD ratings have been consistently increasing since putting the belt on AJ and pivoting to this AJ/Owens/Zayn//Bryan/Shane story, doing over 2.7 million viewers this week. Nice to see good creative (IMO) being rewarded.
January 5, 20187 yr comment_5826782 Wow. That Kane/Lesnar pull-apart at the end of Raw was...uh...something. WWE production tried their best to make it look chaotic with the quick cuts, but nothing could mask how tepid that thing was.
January 7, 20187 yr comment_5827149 It is true that a lot of the women can't take very good bumps over the top. Most of them are too short, so they have to awkwardly jump up to the bottom rope before they get clotheslined over. It typically telegraphs when someone is going over.
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