anarchistxx

Daniel Bryan certainly adds an energy and intensity to the show, it loses a lot of the momentum when he is off. The crowd respond to him and that raises the game of those around him. I'm not totally opposed to Bryan vs Kane, although it doesn't help that they ran it a few times already this year as a throwaway television match. If they do a really great video package highlighting their history together it could easily give the match the heat and importance it needs, so all isn't lost. And you have to presume there will be some kind of gimmick, probably a Casket Match. Buried Alive match would be decent, hope it doesn't end up being something like an Ambulance Match/Last Man Standing match, those are always terrible. His intellectual stuff sucked though, it was so out of date and not done with any kind of subtelty, not believable in the slightest. The problem with Sandow is that a lot of far more over and talented guys have emerged since he first got his push, and he has been left behind. He just doesn't have the look, charisma or x-factor to be a top guy in my opinion. Enhancement talent at best, or a generic tag wrestler. The ilk of Sandow, Miz and Kingston should be phased out now they have a roster filled with superb talent. WWE has done a good job of answering the charge of too many homogenous wrestlers who were indistinguishable from each other. Now they have a good amunt of people with unique looks and gimmicks, so your cookie cutter types just aren't relevant or needed.

Jokey John Cena is definitely the worst incarnation. Especially when the lines seem so forced and scripted, and the feud is meant to have got under his skin. 'Mom' jokes and comedy pictures shouldn't really be a booking direction when you are trying to sell a feud as hate filled.

Loved the Paige/Alicia match. Paige looks really talented, should be the future of the division although you can see her getting burned out quite young given her age. First time in forever that I haven't used the divas match to make coffee or check my emails. Rest of the show has just been sort of there, the tournament matches have been solid rather than outstanding. Enjoyable enough thus far.

This is a canonized classic isn't it?

A bit selfish but I hope Raw isn't just filled with exhibition matches and Ultimate Warrior tributes. The product is so hot that we need a continuation of all the feuds.

Weird how most of the shows/matches never showed up online, either. Are ROH really strict with taking videos down? Regretting selling most of mine, guessing they are worth a fair bit now. Only DVDs I kept were Joe vs Punk II, MX Reunion and All Star Extravaganza II. Didn't even make copies of the others, figured I wouldn't watch any wrestling again at the time.

Smackdown was excellent. Cesaro & Big Show delivered a fun opener, the main event was enjoyable if short, everything else was pretty engaging or at least short, except for the Rybaxel tag and the Santino Marella match. WWE promos have been on an upward trajectory lately, and John Cena continued the trend. He seemed a lot more relaxed and natural, as if he was just off the cuff, rather than going on the script like he probably was. He did a good job of summarizing the last week and there were none of the lame jokes, company buzz words and overly stylistic phrases that plagued most segments a couple of years back. Hogan seems to have got his aura back as well, and the segment with Daniel Bryan was very well done. Didn't come off as too congratulatory like it could have, and did a good job of putting DB amongst the superstars of history and keeping him elevated. The Pet Shop Boys once described an ‘imperial phase’ in their career, when they were totally in tune with their audience, and totally in tune with what pop music was at the time. I feel this is starting to be a kind of imperial phase for WWE, in that they know exactly what to give to their audience, how to work them, how to troll them and more importantly how to please them. They are giving the fans what they want at the same time as not appearing to be overly led by public opinion when it comes to their artistic vision. Surely the best promotion in the world right now?

The Rock vs Rikishi from Survivor Series 2000. Rikishi is just a nasty fucker, relentlessly working over a body part all match with The Rock selling it brilliantly. Such a smartly worked, well paced match, only goes about twelve minutes but is emotional, hate filled and non stop, lots of heat as well. Easily the best match Rikishi ever had. Kenta Kobasi/Makoto Hashi vs Jun Akiyama/Yoshinobu Kanemaru from NOAH in 2005 is another match I love as well, which doesn't get talked about much. Akiyama is in full on grumpy bully mode.

Not sure John Cena should be doing the Undertaker role of elevating debuting monsters just yet. He is still looked upon as the ace, and shouldn't be enhancing any talent they don't expect to stick with for the long haul. Rusev isn't anywhere near ready to be involved in a Cena feud, especially given the apathy of fans towards him the other night. Back on the Titus O'Neill discussion, and sort of contradicting what I just said, Cena vs Titus would be a fantastic pairing. Visually it would be amazing, and if they gave Titus reign to talk trash on the mic without segueing into WWE cliche the feud could be great as well. Other than that there are potential feuds with Cesaro, Bad News Barrett, Jack Swagger and others that would work as placeholders, as well as face vs face rematches with Daniel Bryan and RVD. I wouldn't mind the Cena/Wyatt's feud to drag on for a few months so long as they worked in a lot of tag matches.

John Cena beating JBL at Wrestlemania 21. It was his first title win, he'd been built up as the new star of the company, JBL had been champion for what seemed like forever. You expected a payoff of a dramatic match and an emphatic finish. They worked a dull, remarkable match that could have aired on Smackdown without appearing special, and then after ten minutes he hits one FU and it's over, to pretty much silence and bemusement in the audience. I was watching it with about four people and then general reaction was 'WTF??' when the three was counted, a bit like Lesnar/Taker when it takes a while to process because it was so unexpected it would be over so soon. We envisaged the match would start to pick up, there would be some near falls and Cena would win. Should have been a historic moment for Cena that they could replay over and over and instead it fell really flat. Very strange match and finish, can only imagine they were constrained for time after Angle & HBK went half an hour and HHH/Batista wanted the drawn out bloody epic in the main event.

Titus O'Neill is pretty underrated, he would make at least a great monster heel to feed to face champions or to elevate people. They should have done a lot more with the Darren Young feud.

Yeah, me too, especially since it seemed ad libbed. Raw in general had a more 'on the fly' feel than usual. It was still a smartly booked show with lots of interesting storyline progression, but the execution felt more chaotic and you had the sense that anything might happen. Helps to have mavericks like Warrior around on shows like that. Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan cutting promos on Raw in 2014 - who would have thought it? Glad it got to happen before he passed. Some lots of surreal things happening in WWE that seems bizarre on paper yet come accross as natural in execution. I too am surprised how major Ultimate Warrior is to a lot of fans. Personally I doubt I've seen more than 20-30 of his matches.

Ironic and slightly poetic too, given Orlando Jordan's sexual orientation and the views of Hellwig that have been referred to in this thread.

Just watched Main Event and that six man was incredible. Every member of those groups should have a massive future, Rowan/Harper should get themselves into the tag title picture. What a brilliantly worked match, so exciting, so smart, everything looked fantastic, the timing was perfect. Dean Ambrose was the MVP for me, what an face in peril performance, his bumping was the best I've seen from anyone this year. His scrapy offence really suits being a FIP as well, and Reigns and Rollins are both ridiculously explosive as the hot tag. The little kids chanting 'let's go Ambrose' made me smile - from garbage wrestler to Saturday morning kids favorite, what a versatile guy. Great promo by Roman Reigns at the end, too, showed the natural charisma and skill at working a crowd that was so lacking in the last generation of pushed talent. Swagger, Del Rio and Sheamus are so forced and stolid when compared to these guys. They have to be working towards Roman Reigns beating Brock Lesnar for the belt at Wrestlemania 31. Actually, I think heyman has given a lot of plodding, boring promos over the last year, probably because he was hyping Curtis Axel which can't be the easiest job. Last monday was a real return to form.

If he did know he was in bad health, did he accept that widely reported 'multi year' contract with WWE to ensure his family would get some money after his death? What is the usual situation regarding supporting the spouse/family of a dead employee in US employment law?

Um, what? That was an utterly ridiculous post in general, but this line is especially absurd and probably offensive to people here. The 'gay rights' movement encompasses all age groups and has been going for decades, making a great deal of important and positive change. It isn't just a load of hipsters wandering around in rainbow wristbands. If you don't want people to respond to your post defending and justifying homophobia, why write it in the first place? You haven't, as you suggest, put Warrior in a 'broader sociological context' you have merely attempted to legitimize his often hurtful and ill informed opinions.

The timing is literally unbelievable. It was all just like in a movie, him finally getting the Hall of Fame induction, the speech about life and death on Raw and then he collapses outside a hotel and the credits roll as he passes into the next world with a blissful look on his face. Very surprised at all the people suggesting suicide on here - he never seemed the type to me in the slightest, and he seemed in a good place having just been brought back into the WWE fold. Considering his history with steroids and cocaine it was almost certainly heart related. Wonder if he would still have died had he not done HOF and Raw? Obviously his heart would still have exploded at some point, but maybe the excitement of the weekend did for him. Craziest few days for wrestling in a long time. If there is any posititve it is that the mainstream attention on wrestling will continue and it will get a lot of publicity through word of mouth and social networks to keep the buzz around WWE.

This is my experience too, posts about it everywhere. Hitting the mainstream media too, BBC have a news article on the Undertaker suffering concussion. Raw did it's biggest rating in two years as well. So much for Daniel Bryan not being a draw.

Evan Bourne can be a huge star if he stays healthy and they book his right. He is the closest thing to peak Rey Mysterio that they have, someone who plays a brilliantly sympathetic underdog face at the same time as being a human highlight real in terms of amazing offence. Perhaps Jeff Hardy is more of an apt comparison, although Evan is way smoother and cleaner than Jeff ever was, especially with his bumping. You just worry he is a bit too old now to carry off the good looking white meat babyface thing, especially with all the injuries. Rey worked through it by being under a mask and changing his style, so he never looked as old as he was. A competitive squash against Lesnar would be incredible.

I don't think you can compare it to King Of The Ring 1998. That was a genuinely shocking, incredible match, albeit not in the traditional sense. You can't take your eyes away from the spectacle, and loads of crazy shit happens. Lesnar/Taker was a genuinely dull, boring match, where pretty much nothing happens. The only thing of any interest about it is the finish.

Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black and Jon Moxley fighting off HHH, Kane, Batista and Orton to a standing ovation from a sold out crowd on primetime television. Who the fuck would ever have thought it? Like some weird fantasy booking thing you have watching the indies in 2006. Just crazy when you think about it. The last two nights were everything that makes professional wrestling great. Two flawless shows. Only worry is how they can keep it up. I hope to god we aren't back to Del Rio, Miz, Curtis Axel et al in dull, prominent roles by June. Wrestling is exciting again.

That Stephanie/Shield/Kane segment was just perfect. They have been so thorough dealing with the fallout from Wrestlemania - every issue has been mentioned and brought forward, such smart booking. Has there ever been two more perfect shows back to back then Wrestlemania 30 and this Raw? Not saying they are the greatest shows ti watch back in terms of match quality or stacked cards or amazing events, but they have been booked and pulled off so perfectly. The sequencing, the backstage vignettes, the matches, even the crowds - everything has gone perfectly as it should have done. We spend a lot of time criticizing WWE but huge props to them for this long weekend. And we've still for Bryan/HHH and presumably The Shield turn to come!

I haven't even left the house since Friday. Basically just dug myself in around the television with my laptop, football all day, wrestling all night, sleeping in until midday, perfect few days. Wish we could get Main Event on UK television, don't have the network so hope someone puts the Shield/Wyatt's match on YouTube or somewhere. If they are doing tweeners like Cesaro I still think RVD would benefit from the Heyman rub again. Heyman could really sell him like a star, so the novelty doesn't wear off him lime it usually does after a few weeks. Psyched for the main event.

Lesnar/Cesaro/??? vs The Shield. Yes please.

Alright, that was awesome. A real 'anything can happen' feel to Raw that hasn't been around in such a long time, maybe since 2002. Nobody called the 'Paul heyman guy' swerve and they delivered it so perfectly.