Monday Night Raw July 11th 2016

Lithium93_

One week away from the WWE Draft, and 2 away from Battleground.

After weeks of a huge power struggle for control of SmackDown, Vince returns to RAW, so you know something's gonna happen with Vince back on television..

What to expect, follow this thread to find out...

He's back ...
Mr. McMahon gave his children, Shane and Stephanie, shared custody over Monday Night Raw, but ironically, it’s SmackDown Live that has caused friction between the two siblings. With both McMahons declaring their intentions to run SmackDown come Tuesday, July 19 (and fending off would-be usurpers ranging from Corporate Kane to John Laurinaitis) and the Brand Extension fast approaching, The Chairman is slated to return to Raw in the very same building where Shane himself made his comeback earlier this year. Could Mr. McMahon be on the verge of an executive decision? Or does he have a different COO in mind for SmackDown Live?

They're here
The Wyatt Family laid down an unorthodox challenge to The New Day last week, inviting the WWE Tag Team Champions to visit their compound and test the true Power of Positivity. Big E and Kofi Kingston were all for it, but Xavier Woods was notably subdued and wary of the consequences. Woods has confirmed that he’ll accompany his boys to the creepy clan’s home turf, but whether The New Day will withstand encounter with the First Family of Fear remains to be seen.

Woo-S-A! Woo-S-A!
Zack Ryder’s year hit its biggest peak since WrestleMania when he scored the victory for Team U.S.A. on the Independence Day Raw by pinning Sheamus in a 16-Man Elimination Tag Team Match. He then toppled the Irishman a second time on SmackDown, leaving the former WWE Champion in a simmering rage. The Ultimate Broski then challenged Rusev for the U.S. Championship; The Bulgarian Brute dared Ryder in response to say it to his face on Raw. Can Long Island Iced-Z reverse Rusev’s freight-train momentum?

You can’t “G” me
Well, whadya know? After weeks of being brutalized by those “cuppa’ haters” in The Club, John Cena got himself some help in the form of Enzo Amore & Big Cass, who threw in with the Cenation leader not out of some sense of loyalty, but more out of the general principle of refusing to bow down to the locker room bullies. That’s admirable, but the bond among The Club is made of much stronger stuff, and they were quick to make an example of Enzo on SmackDown. The mission statement between Cena and his crew is going to have to be ironclad if they’re going to send the good brothers packing at WWE Battleground. Look for this new partnership to either hit its stride or go off the rails this Monday night.

Intercontinental incident
The Miz narrowly managed to save his Intercontinental Championship a couple of weeks ago on Raw, but The A-Lister will have to return to set very soon: A Battle Royal to determine his No. 1 contender will unfold this on Raw in Detroit, and it’s anyone’s guess as to who will step up to challenge the reigning titleholder. What plot twist awaits the most accomplished thespian in the WWE locker room this Monday night?

Rollins’ last stand?
With Roman Reigns on the shelf, Seth Rollins has spent his days racking up wins and besmirching the reputation of the former WWE Champion. What he hasn’t been doing, at least not that much, is concentrating on Dean Ambrose. The current WWE Champion has mostly gotten the better of Rollins in their recent tussles, and The Architect’s insistence on focusing on the one Shield veteran in the WWE Battleground Triple Threat who isn’t there has been putting him at a notable disadvantage against the one who actually beat him for the title. He’ll need to change his strategy a little if he really wants to “reclaim” at WWE Battleground. To see how, or if, Rollins adjusts his game plan, tune into Raw this Monday on Sky Sports 5 at 1 AM.

ERG89

Lithium93_ wrote: »

He's back ...
Mr. McMahon gave his children, Shane and Stephanie, shared custody over Monday Night Raw, but ironically, it’s SmackDown Live that has caused friction between the two siblings. With both McMahons declaring their intentions to run SmackDown

I watch it infrequently but am I right in thinking neither have appeared on Smackdown?

Lithium93_

ERG89 wrote: »

I watch it infrequently but am I right in thinking neither have appeared on Smackdown?

I honestly couldn't tell ya, then again it's been ages since I watched Smackdown.

Hopefully the Draft changes that.

Itssoeasy

ERG89 wrote: »

Lithium93_ wrote: »

He's back ...
Mr. McMahon gave his children, Shane and Stephanie, shared custody over Monday Night Raw, but ironically, it s SmackDown Live that has caused friction between the two siblings. With both McMahons declaring their intentions to run SmackDown

I watch it infrequently but am I right in thinking neither have appeared on Smackdown?

I've no idea as I can't remember the last time I watched smackdown intentionally.

Mr.Nice Guy

I wonder if HHH will be made Smackdown GM as a way to reintroduce him. He hasn't been around has he?

Pinkman

I can't believe they won't be capitalizing on Brock's UFC 200 win by at the very least having Heyman come out to brag about it. Apparently Heyman is in the UK for a speaking tour. Hopefully Lesnar and Heyman appear next week to kickstart the feud with Orton.

Itssoeasy

I've less than zero interest in seeing lesner and orton. I know orton has been injured and Brock was training for ufc 200 but you need to give the fans a reason to care which this isn't any.

J. Marston

Itssoeasy wrote: »

I've less than zero interest in seeing lesner and orton. I know orton has been injured and Brock was training for ufc 200 but you need to give the fans a reason to care which this isn't any.

Yep. There is no title on the line, the result is beyond a foregone conclusion and we'll see the usual German suplex counter but this time with the gimmick of some ground and pound. There isn't even the possibility of some good promos.

Itssoeasy

Also I just checked and orton is 36 years old and he's had a few shoulder issues on I think the same shoulder. And I've always been high on orton as he is the prototype pro wrestler.

I'm just wondering how long he has left in the ring.

Agent Coulson

Has Orton really been out with a legit shoulder injury or was it a covered up third strike?

Itssoeasy

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Has Orton really been out with a legit shoulder injury or was it a covered up third strike?

As far as I know it is and if it was a third strike he'd have been gone or at least they would have announced it on the website and I don't think it was.

JP Liz V1

Pinkman wrote: »

I can't believe they won't be capitalizing on Brock's UFC 200 win by at the very least having Heyman come out to brag about it. Apparently Heyman is in the UK for a speaking tour. Hopefully Lesnar and Heyman appear next week to kickstart the feud with Orton.

Is Lesnar not back until SS only?

Not sure how his SS match with Orton will be built unless Heyman and Orton mic battle

Lithium93_

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Is Lesnar not back until SS only?

Not sure how his SS match with Orton will be built unless Heyman and Orton mic battle

A mic battle I fear that will be very one sided

ERG89

J. Marston wrote: »

There isn't even the possibility of some good promos.

Really? I cannot wait for the next Heyman promo about Brock returning.

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Has Orton really been out with a legit shoulder injury or was it a covered up third strike?

Apparently he had neck issues & it was rumoured a possibly surgery too. A bit jumping to conclusions saying he failed a test no?

Furious-Red

SureYWouldntYa

He's backstage at a lot of Raw's though is he not?

Lithium93_

I'll believe it when I see it with my own 2 eyes.

cian68

Aye he's there all the time. I'm going to put myself out there and say next week. 18th July Raw is his debut.

SureYWouldntYa

cian68 wrote: »

Aye he's there all the time. I'm going to put myself out there and say next week. 18th July Raw is his debut.

I think he'd be a fantastic pick to be drafted to either Raw/Smackdown on the live Smackdown

Don't announce him, just whenever people are being drafted or the two gm's are making their picks have him just be announced

He's in NXT long enough, he doesn't need vignettes or to be announced, he just needs to arrive

Furious-Red

Would be great if they keep him either 1st or last. You could have Steph come out say she has signed the biggest star from NXT history (thanks to HHH) , but Shane comes out and says its his pick not hers and then he picks Finn.

Pretty much the same thing they did with Vince/Flair during the 2002 when picking Brock Lesnar

johnnysmack

****ing hell a break already. They are only 7 mins into the fecking show!

Agent Coulson

Bob is awesome.

ricero

Love darrens theme.

Dare i say it this wyatt v new day is interesting and finally get to see some action outside of the arena. Never see that these days

Agent Coulson

Here we go putting the drug addict Roman over.

Agent Coulson

Conas a ta tu Zack lol

Ageyev

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Conas a ta tu Zack lol

So much cringe!

Agent Coulson

Just thinking with the Miz dropping JoMo's name I wonder is he returning for the draft.

shineon23

Furious-Red wrote: »

There has also been unconfirmed reports that I've been at Raw on numerous occasions and I've yet to make an appearance.

Agent Coulson

Put green hair on Ambrose and he would make a perfect Doink the Clown.

Kankan14

Vince looks skinnier to me

Ageyev

This New Day Wyatts segment looks like a bunch of backyarders

CSF

Ageyev wrote: »

This New Day Wyatts segment looks like a bunch of backyarders

I thought it was good, kind of what you'd have wanted the Wyatts to be all along. Heavily influenced by that Hardys thing but done much better.

happyoutscan

So no sign of Finn? :mad:

Agent Coulson

The Wyatt/New Day.. Hardy rip off was nowhere near as fun as Final Deletion

CSF

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The Wyatt/New Day.. Hardy rip off was nowhere near as fun as Final Deletion

No it wasn't but I don't think it was meant to be. As enjoyable as that was I don't think anyone really came out of it not laughing at TNA and the Hardys.

I don't think WWE want the Wyatts to come out of it the same figures of parody so instead they put their twist on it to make the Wyatts look legitimately menacing.

I think they succeeded in that and finally did something that actually captured what the Wyatt character was meant to be rather than him sh*te on for hours and try get the fans to sing songs with him.

IMO, this was about on point with the Wyatt Family gimmick as we've seen since the vignettes they used to show before they debuted on the main roster. I've been one of Bray's biggest critics on here, but this kind of feud I would pay to watch.

ERG89

happyoutscan wrote: »

So no sign of Finn? :mad:

He was never going to show up last night. They acknowledged his match with Nakamura so maybe he'll be available for the draft.
Final segment is awful. Vince loses his train of thought quite a bit out there now. Stephs trip up was so
Is it necessary to have Commissioners & GM's? No but it'll fill more TV time.
Total flop to capatilise on the Lesnar win, send a camera with him to the event & get some post fight thoughts.

A Rogue Hobo

Anyone else get the vibe they're positioning Shane and Steph as commissioners along with having GMs as well to sort of get Vince off of tv? Have them both be the "Vince's" of the respective brand if you will. Until presumably when a year or so later, the draft could fail and Vince is advertised again to pop a rating....

Raw was pretty boring, personally wasn't a fan of the Wyatt segment. Could see what they were going for but a number of things went against it. Over produced, the film grain effect on the camera was just distracting. The digital lights added in at the end just looked cheap by WWE standards. Didn't really progress anything. Really they could have just had a backstage brawl and achieved the same thing.

It's remarkable how much they have managed to damage probably the most famous tag team that weren't currently signed by WWE in Anderson and Gallows in a mere matter of months. They've positioned Anderson as the absolute whipping boy, I get they are pushing Cass and Enzo hard but they have managed to make the Club mean nothing. At least AJ is still treated as a threat I guess.

Battle Royale was fine, odd way to re-debut Young but still was nice to see something different. Plus in get a great kick out of Backlund.

I hope they don't split Zayn and Owens up in the draft, they have only scratched the surface of a program that could go on for years.

Sasha/Charlotte....meh. Fine. Predictable but fine.

Genuinely have trouble remembering the rest!

DM_7

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Has Orton really been out with a legit shoulder injury or was it a covered up third strike?

They can have strikes removed now.

CastorTroy

Strange way for Young to get the title shot, especially on his first night back.

Hope New Day don't go back to the power of positivity, booty-o characters after that fight. Woods saw what was happening and reacted before and now the rest have seen it so they should also be affected in some way.

They're really giving Cass a lot of mic time. Enzo should not be the silent one.

Is that the biggest pop Cena has had in a long time?

A Rogue Hobo wrote: »

I hope they don't split Zayn and Owens up in the draft, they have only scratched the surface of a program that could go on for years.

I wouldn't mind them being split up. Give them fresh feuds. Imagine then they attack each other backstage at PPVs both brands are on leading to a big match at Survivor Series and/or Mania

Dunno if they mentioned it, but isn't Charlotte approaching Nikki's record, if they add the diva and women title reigns together sinc she never lost the title?

I was wondering why Shane and Steph were so keen to get the Smackdown job and leave Raw. Didn't realise they thought they would be on both brands.

Lithium93_

PTH2009

really thought Finn was going to debut to face owens. When vince was interviewed before owens match i thought he was going to announce Finn to the main roster. wasant to be though :(:(:(

Was expecting a bigger ending and maybe someone like Eric Bischoff was going to come out.

Would Shane and Steph have more power over the GM. For overseas shows and less important weeks i imagine the GM will run the shows while Steph and Shane are on Vacation!!!

Nice to have 2 live shows weekly now. Id perfer if both shows were 3 hours

Kankan14

PTH2009 wrote: »

Nice to have 2 live shows weekly now. Id perfer if both shows were 3 hours

IMO two shows at two hours each would be better. There's so much ****e in a three hour raw as is and now half the roster is leaving it'll be an even tougher watch.

Lithium93_

Watching 6 hours of WWE weekly would equal burnout, like Kankan said above 2 hours for each show would be better, but alas RAW is commited to 3 hours & 19 minutes (according to my Sky+ planner anyways).. If RAW was booked correctly to keep eyes on it, you wouldn't mind, but so much filler, and not a whole lot of killer to balance it out.