Russellmania

it prompted this gif so either way it's a win for the fans:

it's just a crushing change to go from the NXT show on thursday (which I really liked) to this on Monday. You can really easily see how much more focused and efficient NXT is compared to the main roster. HHH has said that he'd like to see NXT become its own brand ala WCW and while that will obviously never happen in the truest sense, the contrast between the two organizations is reminiscent of how disorganized WCW used to seem compared to WWF (with WWE ironically being in the WCW position now)

this show was just dreadful

Isn't KENTA announced to debut tonight?

The NXT guys were obviously not going to get a full-on slow build NXT style TV match on RAW. I thought they came away looking good for the style they had to work.

I actually thought he was the best part of this match. It needed to be a spotfest to grab the crowd.

man Rollins came scary close to getting impaled by the steel cage on live tv

they should just go full counter-culture and have Brock come out during the Bellas segment and F-5 everyone in the ring.

I mean they already have that with Bryan (assuming he comes back)...Bryan appeals to smarts with his workrate and casuals with his look and catchphrase. I mean there really isn't a segment of the WWE audience that he doesn't connect with on some level. I understand they are worried about "replacing" Cena moving forward and IMO Bryan is not that guy because he's not much younger than Cena, but Bryan is very much a guy they can ride for a couple years until Reigns is really ready. Bryan can basically be the bridge guy between the Cena and Reigns eras in the same way Shawn and Bret were the bridge between the Hogan and Austin eras. And Bryan is probably much more effective in that role because he is probably a better draw than Bret or Shawn were in the early 90's. So yeah I just don't get the insistence on bypassing Bryan to go straight to Reigns when they haven't nearly gotten all they can out of a Bryan run yet. I also think Ambrose is the future "face of the WWE", not Reigns, but that's another conversation.

nobody is saying they are considering anything else *right now* just that it's still a long way to WM and I for one will be very surprised if they are still planning to go through with Brock/Reigns come February.

Shouldn't he be back earlier? The original time table WITH a 2nd surgery had him back in December-January (3 month recovery). I mean, he should take as much time as needed but wouldn't shock me if he's back for SS if he doesn't need shoulder surgery. I guess it just depends on how quickly his rehab goes. Surgery is always a last resort so if it's 3 months of rehab vs. 3 months of surgery recovery then it's the same net timeframe, but one is a much more attractive option.

As for Lesnar, I really don't get their insistence on finding someone "credible" to face him. They are in a perfect spot with Lesnar right now where they can actually use him to *make* credible challengers. Right now anyone with the balls to challenge him will instantly gain credibility with the fans. Then if that challenger manages to hang with Lesnar moreso than Cena did..? Guys like Sheamus, Ziggler, Wyatt....those guys could be instantly elevated even with a loss to Lesnar. I mean sure Big Show *looks* more credible against Brock than someone like Ziggler, but the fans know better. Nobody is actually going to buy that Big Show might beat him so why not use this chance give someone the rub instead?

at this time in 2013 we were getting Bryan/Sheamus at Mania 30. I don't really put much stock in what their current plans are especially considering they are not including Bryan in any plans right now. If he comes back by the Rumble and is healthy and ready to go then he is going to go back to being the most over guy in the company real quick. If you think that won't effect their Mania plans then i dunno what to tell ya I mean, they didn't decide to end the streak until the afternoon of WM 30. They could conceivably audible a Bryan Rumble win at any point before the actual match, and I'll be shocked if they don't once he comes back and has the crowd in the palm of his hand again. As for Reigns, if Bryan can come back and carry the title, they'd probably elevate Reigns more with a heel run chasing Bryan than anything they can do with him as a face right now.

They would be insane to not save it for Mania

I can just imagine Vince..."Tell CM Punk 'Fuck CM Punk'"

I really liked part 1 of the HHH interview, but it really doesn't seem like Jericho is going to ask him any tough questions. Not surprising or anything but kind of disappointing. I really would have loved to know how HHH feels about the overall creative direction of the company. The way he runs NXT seems in many ways to be the antithesis of how the main show is run so I would think he's gotta have some strong opinions about that stuff. Overall though HHH is a really articulate guy and has a good sense of humor so I could listen to him just tell old stories all day.

Out of Jericho, Austin, and Ross, Jericho is by far the best interviewer of the bunch. The segments where he's just talking about pop culture stuff or plugging sponsors are pretty terrible, but he is VERY good when it comes to interviewing guests. Austin is a decent interviewer but has some fun stories in between the interviews. Ross is the worst interviewer of the bunch and tends to talk more than his guests. I guess my point is that if you actually care about the quality of the interview then you should be glad he'll be on Jericho's show as opposed to the others IMO.

It's not like he really made any ounce of difference in his latest stint with the company. WWE already has Jericho and RVD doing the "drop in and out" thing. I'm still bewildered at WWE's decision to give him the Rumble and the main event of Wrestlemania XXX. Even though they eventually succumbed and capitalised on the huge demand for Daniel Bryan, it's still mind boggling to consider that WWE really thought Orton vs. Batista would draw big for a milestone Mania. Evidently, Taker always wanted Lesnar this year, that ruled out Taker vs. Cena. Punk vs. Triple H may have worked as the main event with some long term booking, but not with the two months of rushed booking that they had at their disposal - not to mention people had to have had a feeling that Punk was going to leave around RR. Wasn't the initial plan for a Sheamus heel turn and a match between him and Bryan? That definitely wasn't going to be anywhere except in the first three matches of the card. In the absence of the turn-around on Bryan, the only logical decision would have been to put on Lesnar vs. Taker last. Whatever lack of impact Batista had during his last run was squarely on the shoulders of the creative team. Once they started using him as a heel I thought he had legitimate value to them. Meanwhile, now that they have Brock as champ I have to think Batista would have a ton of value to them now as another guy who could headline a PPV against Brock. Right now the only healthy guy who can fill that spot is Cena and after the rematch they won't be able to go to that well for a while. Brock defending against Batista at some point could have bought them some time until Mania so if he's really not coming back that hurts them IMO.

this company doesn't have the balls to let their champ be off TV and PPV for 3+ months. He's totally dropping the title and it's highly likely it's back to Cena.

man I wish it wasn't true but I totally expect Cena to win back the title at NoC because I don't think this company has the balls to let Brock hold the title all the way to WM. It's too bad because I worry they are going to undo everything they did at SS. It's really too bad because to this point they've created this awesome dynamic where anyone who challenges Brock gains loads of credibility just for having the balls to challenge him. Then even if Brock beats them, they can be made to look great in defeat just by putting up more of a fight than Cena did.

lol your loss jabroni

that was the best Lumberjack match I've ever seen for sure. And I don't buy the "it didn't honor the stip" argument at all. In the long run the stip was integral to the match, because as you said, they did stop Rollins from running. That sequence with the dirty deeds counter, lariat, and curb stomp was unreal.

the best thing they could do tonight is have no Cena on RAW and have Lesnar come out and squash random fools throughout the night like back when he first debuted just to put over the fact that there is NO ONE who can stop him.

the irony is that it was Orton, not his opponent, who took the snoozer match spot on the card last night and made it something interesting. Dude just carried a still incredibly green Reigns to the best singles match of his life and people here shit on him for it.

first of all, how on earth can any one argue that Reigns push has been 'organic'? I feel like anyone making that argument doesn't really understand what people mean when they use the term in a wrestling context. Reigns was extremely green and heavily protected in the Shield. He absolutely deserves some credit for having a great look and charisma, which helped him get big crowd reactions in the Shield, but so much of that was booking and positioning in the group. For 2 years Reigns basically got to be the cleanup hitter for that group and was very much enhanced by teaming with two superworkers. All Reigns really had to be was a great hot tag within the group. WWE deciding that because he shined in that context that he would be a sure thing as a singles star is a logical fallacy, and them handpicking him to be their next big singles star when he hadn't even had a significant singles match is the opposite of an organic push. The fact that people are up in arms about Orton not giving him a ton of offense indicates just how protected he still needs to be to be over. That's not organic. Compare his push to Bryan who became the most over guy in the company in spite of being booked horribly for years and never really being protected at all outside of some specific instances. Bryan was a guy the *fans* picked to be *the guy* and they were going to make him *the guy* no matter what the bookers did to him. That's an organic push. Saying Reigns' current push is "inorganic" doesn't mean that he hasn't gotten an organic response from the crowd, it just means that WWE's current plans for him don't accurately reflect the strength of those crowd reactions or the reasons he's getting those reactions. As for the Reigns/Orton match, I see people saying Orton undercut Reigns. First of all, Orton doesn't get to choose how long their segment is. They were told to go out there and work a 15 minute match. Reigns right now has literally 5 spots in his arsenal (diving clothesline, apron kick, samoan drop, superman punch, spear) and because of the way he worked in the Shield for 2 years, he only knows how to hit those spots in one sequence. The rest of his offense is basically punches. I see people arguing that this match made him look weak. Well the only alternative is for him to do the Goldberg routine and kill Orton in under 10 minutes. But the match was booked for 15...not Orton's fault. It's also neither guy's fault that it was booked in the buffer spot between two hot matches. Also because of how shitty WWE's booking is, nobody really cared about this match going into it. So that's what Orton has to work with. He has to guide this guy through a 15+ minute match without blowing all of Reigns' big spots too early and also has to get the crowd into it against all odds. I can understand people thinking Reigns didn't get enough offense, but he literally utilized ALL OF THE OFFENSE HE KNOWS. And for what it's worth I don't think enough of the crowd buys Reigns as a destroyer of worlds to book him as a Goldberg-like force anyway. I guess my point is that, Orton's slow build style of match actually worked here because the crowd didn't care enough to eat up Reigns winning in a sprint. I mean the crowd was really hot by the end of the match and I don't think the crowd would have cared nearly as much if Reigns had just come out and squashed Orton.