Stiva

Main Event going live every week is definitely a good thing. I hope they start running some self-contained feuds on it. As for this show, I, too, thought Kane/Bryan was really good and if there was a PPV between now and Mania, it would have been a great fit on there. Kane always works really hard with Bryan and I thought all the hope spots were cut off in really neat ways. I really liked Road Dogg's promo and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if he stuck around as a manager for someone.

I'm totally blanking on a cruiser with the ring name 'Chris' in WWE around the time Everybody Hates Chris was on the air.

I also love how, the Wyatt stuff aside, he's been made to look like this unstoppable super wrestler for a while now. He's beat Cena clean, keeps beating Orton, had Batista on the ropes last night, had the better of Kane last night, looked like a wrecking ball in the Chamber and outsmarted HHH with the kick until they all had to put him down. I mean, I have no doubt that won't be reflected in the HHH match when Hunter wants to have his 10-15 minute control segment where he knees Bryan a lot but still, it's clear that he's being shown as a guy to fear. Not that HHH will show that fear. As an aside, they really are pushing Bray Wyatt as this unbeatable psychopath. I think he takes the belt off Bryan in the summer.

Because people who read news sites that crib all their info from Meltzer aren't a minority anymore.

Meltzer and Johnson were told 100% he'd be there by a "top WWE star". The crowd was always going to be hot for Punk but that set it over the top.

Oh, man. WWE worked everybody. Just a shame that their Mania card sucks.

Yikes, those two can't help themselves. A better promo guy would have been able to slaughter Steph's stuff there especially. She really shouldn't be dishing that sort of thing out if there's going to be no comeuppance for her. HHH, I can understand if/when Bryan pins him.

There's so much low hanging fruit in these promos that Bryan should be attacking.

Yeah, I loved it. Christian continues to find really cool ways to take other people's finishes. Do they keep HHH away from this crowd?

What did I miss? Lawler asked JBL how he'd compare JR's commentary to Vince's and he said "At least, Vince spoke English. That's like comparing horse manure to ice cream" and then topped it off with a shitty impression for good measure. Lawler calling Sheamus Italian too, man. The day they replace Lawler with Regal and JBL with, I don't know, some kind of oscillating fan, I'll be over the moon.

I want to thank WWE for running two of my Mania predictions tonight

Also, at no point have they mentioned CM Punk trending on Twitter. I think, if he is there, they're going to have him show up as if he's doing it unannounced and storm the ring or something.

I think that was more of a "hey let's throw something at this crowd really hard and fast and stop any dumb pre-planned bullshit" Yeah but this definitely has the feel of a bigger-than-usual Raw. Tag Titles up next, Shields/Wyatt rematch, Batista/Bryan. It feels like this is going to be 100mph from the word go.

If they've booked a table bump in the first 20 minutes, they must have some crazy shit planned for later on.

Hope you keep this up, Loss as it's fun reading through these knowing that almost ten years ago (fucking hell...), you were seeing a real transitional time in WWE's history. I'm curious to see what you think of Cena's run on top in 2007 until his injury because it's one of my favourite headline runs of any WWE guy. I hope you're looking forward to lots of Edge main events though, at a point where he was declining rapidly. I'm amazed he lasted until 2011 looking back.

If Punk shows up tonight, I'll go with this: 0 - Pre Show Battle Royale - I dunno, this is a crap shoot. Rey? Goldust? Titus O'Neill? Hogan open where he makes HHH/Bryan No DQ 1. Usos over New Age Outlaws for the tag titles and their big win 2. Sheamus over Christian 3. Cesaro over Reigns to unify the IC and US Titles --- Reigns beats Ambrose for the US Title to further Shield break-up, Ambrose costs him this, Rollins cries a bit 4. Cena beats Wyatt after they try the sneak attack thing again but Cena wises up. Cena wins the match but they lay him out afterward 5. Tamina over AJ 6. Bryan over HHH with possibly some Hogan and Kane shenanigans. Hogan and Bryan yes it up. 7. Taker over Lesnar 8. Batista over Orton and Punk. ----- I think your Shield break-up matches should really be happening at Extreme Rules and beyond and I think they'll take that route with the Bryan title win. I think Punk will finally take his time off after they appease him with the main event and I expect Cena will probably want to put Wyatt over but they'll go with that instead. I didn't even think of Rusev getting a spot but I'd guess they save the Henry stuff before they feed him to Cena/Bryan/Cesaro/whatever babyface is holding a singles title.

The one thing I will say about is NXT is that it's hard to believe that the commentary is so good on there and so awful on the main shows. I look forward to the day where it's Regal in the booth on Raw. Tom Phillips is definitely cut from the Michael Cole cloth but he has a better voice for play-by-play and he's helped by not having JBL and King prattling on like idiots on either side of him. If HHH says all the workers on the NXT show are more or less ready for a call-up, do they have other workers just set up in the training camp that aren't on TV yet?

That would have been a spot for Rey. One thing I do love about Cesaro atm is that his first attempt at the Giant Swing always gets cut off and then he hits it the second time. Such a simple trick but it works every time.

Me neither. Punk in 2013 was pretty shitty, all things considered. He had become an awful promo and was wrestling like a guy who wanted some time off. I don't doubt he's got another entertaining run in him down the line but I don't see what he'd bring to Batista/Orton other than giving the Mania crowd someone to actually cheer for in the match. Batista playing off the massive heat as a primadonna heel is far more interesting to me going forward than babyface CM Punk.

At this point, I don't know if they genuinely believe that people just want to see Bryan featured prominently and they think a match with superman HHH will cut it or they're doing their usual "we'll acknowledge the fans but we have no idea how to book our way out of it anymore" style. People are rightfully worried about Orton/Batista but there's going to be a Brock/Taker match at Mania too. That title match has no chance.

Cesaro is on an absolutely crazy streak this year. Is there any house show handhelds floating around?

Hulk being trapped in a WWE lingo feedback loop was pretty funny.

I'm not sure it's that high but my immediate reaction is definitely the best WWE match of the 2010s so far. I can't think of anything comparable except maybe Cena/Punk in Chicago.

WWE acknowledging 2 months of fan unrest but actually ignoring it is such a WWE move. Incredible chamber match, hampered by a hokey last 5 minutes as they scrambled for any attempt to stick to their plan.

In another life, Mark Henry is the world's greatest sports analyst.