Raw Is War 29/8

Reebrock

Dana needs to learn a lot. Like preparing to take a drop kick: she is selling the move before an opponent begins to execute it.

Lord TSC

seandotcomm wrote: »

Announced at the start of the night

I missed that. I was screaming with joy when Owens pinned Cass :pac:

Lithium93_

Was in the airport this morning, some guy saw my Kevin Owens t-shirt and said "have you seen", didn't know what he was on about, got into Stansted, immediately checked and HOLY **** KEVIN OWENS

Gutted I missed watching it live..

The Showstopper

My immediate reaction to the finish of Raw is being annoyed that HHH is back. Once again the champion is champion because HHH wants them to be champion, not based on their own skill, this is nothing fresh.
I've been really positive on wwe since wrestlemania, and particularly since the draft, but I doubt I'm going to have any interest in whatever comes of this. wwe have done nothing in the last few years to earn trust of fans that this will lead anywhere good.

Omackeral

That last line is a bit unfair. Balor got pushed straight off the bat and won the title in his 3rd match. Won all three previous matches clean. Dean Ambrose is WWE Champion. AJ Styles just beat John Cena clean at Summerslam and has been a feature player since coming in, even got the Club with him for a while. Who ever thought we'd see Styles on top in WWE or with the Bullet Club?! Daniel Bryan's win at Mania 30 was the possibly the best story arc since Austin vs McMahon, only cut short by injury. They've gotten a good bit right I'd say. That's without mentioning the success of NXT, the CWC and the female competitors.

The Showstopper

Oh absolutely they've got a lot right. As I said I've actually been super positive about wwe since wrestlemania. But Triple H does absolutely nothing for me. Kevin Owens being champion of Raw is great and all, but he's champion because Triple H beat Roman and Seth which I just can't get excited for. Maybe Owens will have a great run with the belt and completely overshadow Triple H and I'll change my mind.

Going back to this year's wrestlemania and Triple H being in the main event really killed my interest. They have such a talented roster, Triple H doesn't need to be the centre of attention.

The booking of Bryan at Wrestlemania actually always confused me a bit. Now I loved him winning the two matches at mania and all, but him being booked as an underdog after beating Cena completely clean in an epic Summerslam main event (which no one really did before him) was strange. It was like they pulled the trigger on Bryan being the next big star and then forgot about it for a few months.

DM_7

I thought it was revealed that Bryan had the threat of possible surgery hanging over him during that period. So it made sense to hold back and plan for him not making it before finding away to get him back in once he was good to make mania.

The Showstopper

DM_7 wrote: »

I thought it was revealed that Bryan had the threat of possible surgery hanging over him during that period. So it made sense to hold back and plan for him not making it before finding away to get him back in once he was good to make mania.

I hadn't heard that before. Still I remember at the time thinking how ridiculous it was that the Cena match was completely ignored. Commentary wondering if he had a chance against Triple H even though he had beat Cena made no sense to me.

CSF

DM_7 wrote: »

I thought it was revealed that Bryan had the threat of possible surgery hanging over him during that period. So it made sense to hold back and plan for him not making it before finding away to get him back in once he was good to make mania.

That's not how he tells it in his book. Seems like it was genuinely never the plan, the when the Yes Movement took over the mainstream they were left with no choice.

Orton vs Batista was the plan by all accounts.

Chain Smoker

Pretty sure the plan was

Orton vs Batista
Taker vs Brock
HHH vs Punk
several
other
things
Sheamus (iirc) vs Bryan


And I think when they had to course correct the day after the rumble, punk found out that because Bryan was getting hunter, he was getting a feud with kane instead?

Whether Bryan was down to be added to the main event at that point seems unlikely to me.

CSF

Chain Smoker wrote: »

Pretty sure the plan was

Orton vs Batista
Taker vs Brock
HHH vs Punk
several
other
things
Sheamus (iirc) vs Bryan


And I think when they had to course correct the day after the rumble, punk found out that because Bryan was getting hunter, he was getting a feud with kane instead?

Yeah something like that

DM_7

CSF wrote: »

That's not how he tells it in his book. Seems like it was genuinely never the plan, the when the Yes Movement took over the mainstream they were left with no choice.

Orton vs Batista was the plan by all accounts.

I thought he said it when all the brain trauma came out at the time of his retirement?

sky88

The Showstopper wrote: »

Oh absolutely they've got a lot right. As I said I've actually been super positive about wwe since wrestlemania. But Triple H does absolutely nothing for me. Kevin Owens being champion of Raw is great and all, but he's champion because Triple H beat Roman and Seth which I just can't get excited for. Maybe Owens will have a great run with the belt and completely overshadow Triple H and I'll change my mind.

Going back to this year's wrestlemania and Triple H being in the main event really killed my interest. They have such a talented roster, Triple H doesn't need to be the centre of attention.

The booking of Bryan at Wrestlemania actually always confused me a bit. Now I loved him winning the two matches at mania and all, but him being booked as an underdog after beating Cena completely clean in an epic Summerslam main event (which no one really did before him) was strange. It was like they pulled the trigger on Bryan being the next big star and then forgot about it for a few months.

The only reason hhh main evented mania this year was Rollins injury and them thinking hhh was the only wrestler that the crowd would boo over reigns. They were wrong.

Chain Smoker

sky88 wrote: »

The only reason hhh main evented mania this year was Rollins injury and them thinking hhh was the only wrestler that the crowd would boo over reigns. They were wrong.

I mean, I was all for them trying Hunter (c) vs Reigns if they were hell bent on getting Reigns over, it was the only viable option where the crowd might at least be neutralised into a polite silence.



BUT... wasn't there an episode of Raw a few weeks out where Hunter got a huge babyface reaction from battering the ****e out of Reigns and he played it up huge in the moment?

CSF

Thing is HHH is naturally becoming something of a face behind the scenes with all he's doing with NXT so he's going to become that bit harder to dislike.

Loughc

Chain Smoker wrote: »

BUT... wasn't there an episode of Raw a few weeks out where Hunter got a huge babyface reaction from battering the ****e out of Reigns and he played it up huge in the moment?

He absolutely did. He did the DX chop a few times as well and he soaked it all in and posed for the cheers. I remembered someone here posted on the Raw thread at the time and said HHH effectively turned Face last night.

SureYWouldntYa

CSF wrote: »

Thing is HHH is naturally becoming something of a face behind the scenes with all he's doing with NXT so he's going to become that bit harder to dislike.

Which is why it's time to retire the character

Let someone retire him at Mania, Rollins for instance, there's very little left for him to do except putting over talent which he's done for a while now minus going over Sting, time for him to go out on his back imo

johnnysmack

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

Which is why it's time to retire the character

Let someone retire him at Mania, Rollins for instance, there's very little left for him to do except putting over talent which he's done for a while now minus going over Sting, time for him to go out on his back imo

Not gonna happen while he can still half go in the ring. He'll go down the undertaker route and get rolled out every WrestleMania for a good few years yet.

jaykhunter

You know we're a bunch of lifers when the thread is labelled "Raw Is War" and no-one bats an eyelid :P

jaykhunter

jaykhunter wrote: »

You know we're a bunch of lifers when the thread is labelled "Raw Is War" and no-one bats an eyelid :P

Haha didn't even notice that

mrkiscool2

johnnysmack wrote: »

Not gonna happen while he can still half go in the ring. He'll go down the undertaker route and get rolled out every WrestleMania for a good few years yet.

I actually have no problem with something like that. In the last few years, Triple H has had some amazing matches (even the Sting match was great for nostalgia). He made Reigns look a million bucks and his match against Bryan was absolutely phenomenal (still watch that back sometimes, and I still mark everytime when Triple H hits the Tiger Suplex).

paulie21

jaykhunter wrote: »

You know we're a bunch of lifers when the thread is labelled "Raw Is War" and no-one bats an eyelid :P

Ha was wondering when someone would notice that

Lord TSC

mrkiscool2 wrote: »

I actually have no problem with something like that. In the last few years, Triple H has had some amazing matches (even the Sting match was great for nostalgia). He made Reigns look a million bucks and his match against Bryan was absolutely phenomenal (still watch that back sometimes, and I still mark everytime when Triple H hits the Tiger Suplex).

That one, I disagree with; as mentioned above, he openly embraced the cheers at times, which only served to undermine the attempts to get Reigns over as a face.

Neil3030

I really just think it's a case of "football season starts next week, how do we make sure people are hooked on seeing Raw."

We will all tune in to see why HHH did what he did, job done.

I'm not expecting this to go too far tbh. Much like how they handled the Bryan/Miz thing.

the groutch

Lord TSC wrote: »

That one, I disagree with; as mentioned above, he openly embraced the cheers at times, which only served to undermine the attempts to get Reigns over as a face.

another sign that Reigns is purely "Vince's Guy".

JP Liz V1

Neil3030 wrote: »

For me there's too many unanswered questions to be straight up for or against the finish.

Is HHH heel or face?
Was that a face turn for Rollins or a face turn for Owens?
Did Stephanie know about it, will she be with or against HHH?

In terms of a "tune in next week", the finish absolutely succeeded, but time will eventually tell if it was the right finish in the grander scheme of things.

I am curious why Steph or Foley did nothing to stop HHH, what explanation will be given, just shock by both, also can Foley take a bump anymore?

mrkiscool2

Lord TSC wrote: »

That one, I disagree with; as mentioned above, he openly embraced the cheers at times, which only served to undermine the attempts to get Reigns over as a face.

I meant during the match. I think in the last year I have grown to appreciate Reigns more as a wrestler, he just has no charisma as a face. The Wrestlemania match with Haitch made me see how good Reigns actually is in the ring.