WWE had another new Raw on Monday, what did the Pulse Wrestling crew think of the show?
Darren Paltrowitz
Before I explore tonight’s Raw further, I must say that it makes no sense for Summerslam to be four hours this year. The only thing I like to do for more than three hours is sleep. I’d rather be in the position of Summerslam lasting 90 minutes with a cliffhanger ending, and wanting to see more.
So when your promised nine Summerslam includes a heat-less and stake-less tag team match like Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose versus Bryan Wyatt and Luke Harper, how can you be excited? Same goes for Sheamus and Randy Orton.
Rusev and Dolph Ziggler’s storyline looks like a million bucks compared to that of Reigns and Ziggler, but that’s not saying much. My favorite part of that feud is Rusev’s face on his flag.
The Undertaker’s promo wasn’t bad by Undertaker standards, but it is awful by 2015 standards. No one should be afraid of a 50-something “dead man” in leather with dyed hair. Hologram Undertaker would be a different story.
Mark Henry, who continued his jobbing streak tonight, would be a better opponent to Brock Lesnar. But the logic behind “the World’s Strongest Man” being a jobber isn’t quite there, either.
Ryback has improved since his WWE debut, but I don’t particularly care about him fighting Big Show. He’s a big guy, I get it. But he needs a smarter feud, since we’ve probably watched Big Show win or lose every title as a heel or face in every combination at this point.
One thing I am looking forward to seeing is Jon Stewart host Summerslam. That is arguably a bigger celebrity coup for WWE than Stephen Amell wrestling. Pairing that with ESPN coverage, wrestling gets plenty more mainstream coverage with far less of a stench.
Another thing that has potential is the Divas elimination match. Unless Tamina Snuka is in the match for more than a minute. Due to her size, she should be the most threatening Diva on the roster, yet Eva Marie is plenty more convincing (and skilled).
The tag match should be fun as well. Xavier Woods was excellent on the mic, as always. Unfortunately, The Ascension are left out of this one — not “unfortunately” because they’re so skilled and over, but “unfortunately” because WWE had them dominate NXT yet they’re not even the fifth ranked team on the main roster.
I’m not big into contract signings, but the match between John Cena and Seth Rollins has a lot of potential because of the real-life injury angle. I’m genuinely curious as to who walks away as champion.
Meanwhile, still nothing from Damien Mizdow..
John Turnbull
We kick off with Triple H and Steph shilling the network and the ludicrously long 4 hour Summerslam, and to that I say: screw you, WWE!
Orton and Cesaro vs Owens and Shamus was good once it got going, and Cesaro continues to be one of the most entertaining workers on the main show, even against a brick like Shamus!
No matter how much they hype Undertaker vs Lesnar, it’s still an old man vs a part timer.
Ambrose & Reigns seem to have fallen back to the mid card with their feud with the Wyatt family. This may not be a bad thing if it gives Roman a chance to improve in the ring, and Ambrose is always entertaining.
Rusev vs Mark Henry was amusing only for the fact that WWE have chosen to play the patriot card against the USA’s old foe, Bulgaria. Or is Rusev supposed to be Russian again? #evilforeigner
There is almost nothing more boring to me than a contract signing segment. I even longed for the Miz vs Ryback match, which is inconceivable.
The Players/New Day/Matadores tag and Divas matches are getting a little repetitive, but they’re usually entertaining from an in-ring perspective.
Heyman on the mic is the highlight of the night, but I reiterate point 3 above.
So is the Undertakers new gimmick punching people in the balls while the lights are out? Because that doesn’t make him seem like a badass to me…
As a build up show for Summerslam, this Raw left me cold, although the Jon Stewart hosting thing is interesting. Bring on NXT Takeover!
Brittney Soban
Brock Lesnar’s “Homecoming”: Having attended the University of Minnesota Brock received a huge ovation when he came to the ring. Paul Heyman was amazing, as usual. The sudden appearence of the Undertaker was a surprise but not welcome by the local fans who booed his attack on Lesnar. Seeing Lesnar left on his back as the Undertaker walked away made me wonder though; if Undertaker wins at SummerSlam will that be his last match?
read all my thoughts in this week’s 10 thoughts on raw!
Pat Metalhead
Triple H and Steph came out to “hype” Summerslam. I was bored to death after 2 minutes.
RAW is confusing. Orton/Cesaro vs Owens/Sheamus wasn’t bad, but why even have it? Orton defeated Sheamus at Battleground, Orton pinned Sheamus here, Orton will defeat Sheamus at Summerslam. Wasn’t interesting the first time so why bother?
It’s like the chicken or the egg, what came first? Smackdown doing rematches of Raw or Raw doing rematches of Smackdown. Nothing more was added to the Reings/Ambrose vs Harper/Wyatt feud, we got exactly the same result, so, again, why bother?
Nothing against Tamina but SHE is Becky Lynch’s first singles opponent? What a waste of Becky’s talent. At least Miss Steampunk carried Miss Snuka to a decent match.
I’m starting to grow tired of the “special guest on commentary” thing. Anytime a performer isn’t doing anything he/she is added to the commentary team. I fail to see what that achieves, unless you count distracting from the action even more as an achievement.
Dolph Ziggler is back. Those who like the Ziggy/Lana thing will be glad. I’m just looking at Summer’s bustier.
Time for Miz to lay down for Ryback. Next.
Time for Rollins to be buried by Cena while the Authority just stands there and smiles. If at least there was even a remote chance of a Cena turn, this could be fun, but it won’t happen so I’m just sighing trough the whole thing. Spoiler: Cena wins.
Oh and yet another version of a Summerslam match. What lazy booking. This time it’s the tag teams, New Day’s promo is the highlight of a disappointing encounter.
Diva revolution? More like Diva Devolution. Now they’re even giving a way a Champion vs Champion match that could have been the catalyst for several weeks worth of build-up and some interesting story-lines. And if the Diva division is that important why isn’t Nicky Bella defending her title at Summerslam?
Ah time for the stars to arrive. Did I say stars? I mean star. Heyman was gold and made Undertaker vs Lesnar look like a million dollars. Everybody knows it won’t be but at least it brought us more Heyman promos so that’s something anyway. Lesnar received a hero’s welcome, which was nice, Taker rained on his parade and that was that. Most anticipated main event in history? What history would that be?
Final thoughts… I’m so gonna watch ROH’s Field of Honor this weekend
