Monday Night Raw 20-1-2014

gnfnrhead

The (likely) highest paid employee is over three hours late for work.

Hematocyte

Cena trying to act frustrated is right up there with Tommy Wiseau.

D.Q

The most eagerly anticipated rematch in recent memory... Me bollox.

gnfnrhead

Hard to believe this was a go home show. Hardly any build for the actual Rumble match. I remember when it was a massive deal.

cian68

Holy sh*t this episode was baffling. They actively tried to make me disinterested in their ppv. Most awkward last two minutes as well. Cena walking back to the ring wasn't quite as good as Bryan leaving the wyatts.

orestes

All night - "This is personal for Cena after Orton attacking his dad her last week on Raw, we have a camera in the parking lot to see him get here, that's how dramatic and intense it's gonna be! Seriously, it's gonna be crazy, Orton beat the sh!t out of his dad for fukks sake, imagine how p!ssed off Cena is!"

Cena comes sprinting into the stadium with 3 minutes left to go on the show.

I think WWE have drastically overestimated how much Cena cares about his dad.

Strongbow10

Cena even faced the crowd in the lobby trying to piggyback on their enthusiasm for the "yes" chant aswell, i'm actually surprised they didn't have Cena come out and eulogise Bryan for leaving the Wyatt's aswell.

Whenever something is hot at the minute they usually try and get some of the action Cena's way.

Insect Overlord

Remember how awesome it used to be when Austin arrived back-stage? He'd walk in too, or take the pick-up truck.

Cena ran like he was 10 seconds late getting to the toilet. :pac:

D.Q

... I'm frightened.

rovert

Royal Rumble PPV looks really sucky match quality wise.

Lord TSC

Cena, the ultimate business man, three hours late for the start of the show :pac:

So eager was he to get his revenge, he decided not to actually show up until the show was in the overrun? I do so hate these angles where your top guy hasn't been bothered to attend most of the show.

Anyway, based on tonight, I'd say Batista is set to win the Rumble anyway, though Punk at No. 1 at least means we know he'll get a good run before the Conspiracy gets him.

#EMMAtaining was a fun way to introduce a character, though she didn't look all that interested in being there.

Loughc

So with Bryan not in the Rumble match where does this leave him for WM?

With Lesnar and Batista sniffing around the title scene it's very hard to see him getting the ultimate WM moment and winning the title, what now for him?

Assumely his feud with the Wyatts will come to an end at the Rumble, Punk is occupying the Authority, will we indeed see Bryan in a marquee match like Taker-Bryan?

beakerjoe

Just watched Raw, and my god it was a disappointment

Its like they said "Hey, we have Batista...that should do it"

Batistas pop was worse than i expected and his return didnt live up to the hype.

Kanes feud with Punk seems forced and I dont care for it. Punk doesnt look interested.

Nice to have Daniel Bryan back and cleared to wrestle. Im disappointed with him not being in the Rumble. Theres no one I can think of that would be a better winner. Batista just wont cut it for me. Punk looks like hes zoned out and uninterested. Reigns isnt ready yet (though maybe next year), Cena is not what I wanna see. Theres no one I see as being a better candidate to win the Rumble than Bryan. If WWE misses the boat with this then I wont be bothered to much with WM this year.

thebostoncrab

Are we sure Bryan isn't in the rumble just because of this match? Plenty of guys have done double duty in the past, plus by my count we still have 10 names left to be announced:

Batista,
CM Punk,
Alberto Del Rio,
Big E Langston,
The Miz,
R-Truth,
Xavier Woods,
Kofi Kingston,
Cody Rhodes,
Goldust,
Rey Mysterio,
Fandango,
Roman Reigns,
Seth Rollins,
Dean Ambrose,
Erick Rowan,
Luke Harper,
Damien Sandow,
Jimmy Uso,
Jey Uso

beakerjoe

thebostoncrab wrote: »

Are we sure Bryan isn't in the rumble just because of this match? Plenty of guys have done double duty in the past, plus by my count we still have 10 names left to be announced:

Batista,
CM Punk,
Alberto Del Rio,
Big E Langston,
The Miz,
R-Truth,
Xavier Woods,
Kofi Kingston,
Cody Rhodes,
Goldust,
Rey Mysterio,
Fandango,
Roman Reigns,
Seth Rollins,
Dean Ambrose,
Erick Rowan,
Luke Harper,
Damien Sandow,
Jimmy Uso,
Jey Uso

They way Daniel worded it in his promo suggested he wasnt.

Professional Griefer

If Bryan is cleared I'd say he'll be in. I'd say Sheamus might be in there as well

Loughc

beakerjoe wrote: »

They way Daniel worded it in his promo suggested he wasnt.

That's the impression I got too!

Lithium93_

Well the last Raw before the Royal Rumble was very anti climatic

loveBBhate

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Well the last Raw before the Royal Rumble was very anti climatic

Makes Rey Mysterio's return to former glory all the more possible when you think about it.

Lithium93_

loveBBhate wrote: »

Makes Rey Mysterio's return to former glory all the more possible when you think about it.

Rey Mysterio returning to former glory - not in this lifetime, he should just retire at this point

deadeye187

Do it matter if he is or not, bc kids will believe anything!...This is all its aimed at or the below intelligent adult!

loveBBhate

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Rey Mysterio returning to former glory - not in this lifetime, he should just retire at this point

A 619 to the face would change your opinion.

Lithium93_

loveBBhate wrote: »

A 619 to the face would change your opinion.

Nope it wouldn't, Rey unfortunately in my opinion is past it

loveBBhate

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Nope it wouldn't, Rey unfortunately in my opinion is past it

jaykhunter

deadeye187 wrote: »

Do it matter if he is or not, bc kids will believe anything!...This is all its aimed at or the below intelligent adult!

Pardon?

Mokuba

- And that's how you don't do your go home show before Royal Rumble.

- I'm already seeing how bland face Batista is. Seperately, his outfit was just horrific.

- Could they not have had some mass brawl, or some over the top battle royal for a number or something? What did they have on the show that absolutely couldn't have been gotten rid of?

- The Royal Rumble match needed lots of attention tonight and it didn't get it. Maybe it's just because it's obviously such a foregone conclusion. Who knows.

- Is there anything at all that Orton can do to get some real heat? If you had Bully Ray in the authority programme the entire way through it would have been 50 times better.

beakerjoe

loveBBhate wrote: »

A 619 to the face would change your opinion.

Youre not really backing your arguement up here with that sort of comment.

I liked Rey but its sadly time for him to depart IMO.

Hes done nothing of note since returning and his act is stale. Hes not a young man anymore and cant take the bumps like he used to either.

loveBBhate

beakerjoe wrote: »

Youre not really backing your arguement up here with that sort of comment.

I liked Rey but its sadly time for him to depart IMO.

Hes done nothing of note since returning and his act is stale. Hes not a young man anymore and cant take the bumps like he used to either.

His muscles have been getting bigger lately though, you'd never know.

Moneymaker

Jesus that was bad. Killed a lot of my enthusiasm for the Rumble.

loveBBhate

Moneymaker wrote: »

Jesus that was bad. Killed a lot of my enthusiasm for the Rumble.

Likewise tbh.

J. Marston

A mass brawl would've been predicable but it would've been better than watching Cena sauntering around the place for a few minutes.

Deadlie

If Bryan doesn't even get into the RR, creative are shooting themselves in the foot. He's more over than anyone in ages. Yet, it would appear that the two returning boys, Batista and Brock are going to be next in line for the gold. It could be great writing, making the underdog spring from nowhere, but if the past few PPVs are anything to go by, I don't think they're capable of that.

And It makes no sense! Why put the title on someone that's back for a pay cheque and will be gone in the weeks after WM, when you could put it on someone who's appeared week-in week-out for the past year and whips up the crowd into a frenzy? The crowd don't care for Batista or Brock half as much as they do for Bryan. I get that things are better when they've been held off - the slow build and the massive payoff, but to me, not crowning Bryan a champ at WM this year would be sinful.

Cianan2

God, if Bryan won the Rumble and Brock wins the belt at the Chamber... What a match that would be!

rovert

Prediction: the crowd hijacks the Rumble to the degree Daniel Bryan comes out as #31 :P

Insect Overlord

rovert wrote: »

Prediction: the crowd hijacks the Rumble to the degree Daniel Bryan comes out as #31 :P

Or have him take out Rowan/Harper on the way down and take their place.

beakerjoe

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Or have him take out Rowan/Harper on the way down and take their place.

Hopefully! Perfect way to swerve the fans.

Mokuba

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Or have him take out Rowan/Harper on the way down and take their place.

He'll be losing the singles match to interference if that happened.

Tramps Like Us

Some pf the posters here commenting about Batista reminds me of my mum watching the news "Brian Dobson shouldn't have wore that tie, it doesn't go with his jacket". Woo the fcuk cares!

Happy to see Batista back

SimonQuinlank

Enjoyable Raw.Great having Batista around again,he needs his old heel stubble back though.

-Wyatt's promo on Bryan was fantastic.

-Great seeing Billy Gunn wrestle singles again.Made Punk's physique look even worse in comparison though.

-Naomi is probably the worst female wrestler on the roster.She's athletic and jumps about well,but the way she rushes from spot to spot in a blind panic is ridiculous for somone who's been on the main roster for a fair amount of time.

-JBL's line of ''why didn't Xavier Woods copy Cena or Orton's character instead of Brodus Clay's'' was brilliant.

-Closing brawl with Cena and Orton was awful.

GTR63

Batista looked a lot like Big Vito I thought.



Crowd was a bit flat for him, shocked it was nearly 4 years ago he left. A Lesnar or Rock level pop it wasn`t. Haven`t watched much bar the start & strange ending. Did Orton supposedly rob a car?


Cena`s new shirt reminded me of these, would love a packet around now.

CSF

I thought that was terrible. Like really bad for the last Raw before a huge PPV. The 6-man tag was good. Randy Orton was good and looks like he needs to be set free from all the Authority ****e (or at least after Mania). Batista's return was the biggest pile of meh I've ever seen, but I think some of that was caused by the fans (who admittedly weren't great throughout) just not caring that much.

With a bit of luck Bryan will still unexpectedly enter the Rumble. With a bit more luck he'll win it too. After them not making such a fuss over Batista tonight, I'm less expecting him to win it than I was before I watched this Raw. He still might though.

CastorTroy

Orton didn't steal a car as he got in the passenger side so someone gave him a lift.

I think Smackdown should have a match with teh Holy Trinity of Del Rio, Rey and Sin Cara.

AJ would've had someone turn up for her party if she'd invited me. On another note, I'm glad AJ didn't invite me because I don't want to know if I would have bought a tcket and gone.

I'm surprised at the lack of a brawl. Or even one guy coming out boasting about how he's going to put on a demonstration of what he's going to do at the Rumble then bringing out guys like Ryder and Gabriel.

It's strange to think it was at last year's Rumble we had Goldust return and impress us, leaving us wanting to see a Rhodes brothers match.

Do you think we didn't see Bryan's full entrance as WWE didn't want the tv audience to know he got a bigger pop than Batista?

cian68

Is bad news Barrett... Kind of awesome?

CastorTroy

Had to laugh at them trying to push the app before the AJ clip and they said something about this happened during the break exclusively on the app. So download the app to see what we'll show you after the break. Oh and buy the pay per views for a preview of the matches we'll have on Raw the next night.

gnfnrhead

I think Batista's return would have been better if it was a surprise. Everyone knew weeks in advance so the interest was already cooling.

CSF

gnfnrhead wrote: »

I think Batista's return would have been better if it was a surprise. Everyone knew weeks in advance so the interest was already cooling.

I don't disagree with that, but even still, what a minimal impact for a return after years away. If you compare that to Brock's return (from a much shorter break) a few weeks back, you have to wonder why they didn't do more with him. Having said that he didn't help himself with a frankly awful promo.

Lord TSC

gnfnrhead wrote: »

I think Batista's return would have been better if it was a surprise. Everyone knew weeks in advance so the interest was already cooling.

I think if they had their way, it would have been. So blame the idiot promoters who got ahead of themselves, or whoever leaked the touring list with his name on it :P

gnfnrhead

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

I think if they had their way, it would have been. So blame the idiot promoters who got ahead of themselves, or whoever leaked the touring list with his name on it :P

Had they not said a word, the vast majority wouldn't have known about it. Most of WWE's audience don't keep up with that sort of stuff. If it isn't on TV, wwe.com or the App, the majority wouldn't have known.

They were looking for a ratings bump by announcing it.

Agent Coulson

Just got around to watching Raw today the reaction from the crowd between Batista and Bryan was chalk and cheese. Yet they are still seem afriad to make Bryan the face of the company.

My hope from the Wyatt Family run is for Bryan to turn into The American Dragon. The way Bray Wyatt kept calling him Bryan instead of Daniel just make me think the Dragon was coming.

Batista vs Orton vs Cena really doesn't do anaything for me really, It's 2014 not 2008.

Loughc

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Oh, and are we agreed tonight's show ends in the traditional roster-wide brawl?

SmackDown ends with everyone brawling in the ring to hype the Royal Rumble match.