Johnny Sorrow Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Bryan knocked her on her ass, with HHH, with a tope at Mania 30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 I mean the crowd was eerily silent when Hunter and Steph came out. I mean regardless of how good they are as heels this could get negative heat. And someone don't let Jason Powell near any sharp objects. He didn't take this well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Can't see it being retirement, as others on the 'net are speculating, because who "looks forward" to an early forced retirement? My guess is he's entering the Rumble, but if so, how fucking dumb to blow their load by announcing that now. Imagine what an awesome surprise that would be. The entire arena would become unglued. Guess we'll find out in a few hours... Has wrestling really gotten so far away from its true purpose that fans have no idea what they are talking about anymore. Wrestling is about making money, not just about making a smart ass fan at home happy. You announce Bryan is making his return at the Rumble to start his quest to regain the title he never lost, from the beast who has destroyed everybody. That is how you make money. Not by surprising them and hope that they buy the next show, because they don't want to miss future surprises. Making Bryan a surprise participant in the Rumble is FUCKING DUMB! The only scenario you would do that is if he wasn't cleared medical until a few days before the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 The moment they announced Cena was the only one who could bring the Authority back, we knew this was going to happen. I wasn't thinking only after a month, but after the opening video (and the million mentions of Edge's neck) my angle alert spider sense started ringing that we were being set up for something. I mean, they painted themselves in a corner since there's not many ways you can have your top babyface bring back the top heel faction if you can't/won't turn him heel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 so next week or the week after Stephanie bans Bryan from the Rumble match, right? That has to be where they are headed. For the love of Christ I hope they know what they are doing this time. Just have him win the Rumble and beat Brock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Why the hell would anyone want to watch a show where the evil bosses always end up having the last laugh? People already get enough of that in their actual lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 The moment they announced Cena was the only one who could bring the Authority back, we knew this was going to happen. I wasn't thinking only after a month, but after the opening video (and the million mentions of Edge's neck) my angle alert spider sense started ringing that we were being set up for something. I mean, they painted themselves in a corner since there's not many ways you can have your top babyface bring back the top heel faction if you can't/won't turn him heel. Someone on DVDVR said that had Edge gotten up after Cena reinstated the Authority & shown that he was in on it & sided with Seth it might have played better. I agreed with that. That would have been great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 I did like how the announcers (for once) didn't beat it over everyone's head what was going on. There was no BAH GAWD MAGGLE HE WANTS CENA TO BRING BACK THA ATHAURATAH~! from JBL, just Cole gradually and quietly realizing that was Seth's end goal. No sledgehammer of plot needed, just putting the pieces together for the people at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Why the hell would anyone want to watch a show where the evil bosses always end up having the last laugh? People already get enough of that in their actual lives.Every Soap Opera ever? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Can't see it being retirement, as others on the 'net are speculating, because who "looks forward" to an early forced retirement? My guess is he's entering the Rumble, but if so, how fucking dumb to blow their load by announcing that now. Imagine what an awesome surprise that would be. The entire arena would become unglued. Guess we'll find out in a few hours... Has wrestling really gotten so far away from its true purpose that fans have no idea what they are talking about anymore. Wrestling is about making money, not just about making a smart ass fan at home happy. You announce Bryan is making his return at the Rumble to start his quest to regain the title he never lost, from the beast who has destroyed everybody. That is how you make money. Not by surprising them and hope that they buy the next show, because they don't want to miss future surprises. Making Bryan a surprise participant in the Rumble is FUCKING DUMB! The only scenario you would do that is if he wasn't cleared medical until a few days before the show. I'm fine with either way of going about it, but I think the surprise idea comes from Cena's 2008 return which was perfectly executed and a similar scenario of former champ vacating due to injury that everyone thought would keep him out much longer only to come back early and win the Rumble in a shocker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 to go along with the silent crowd a lot of the casual fans on twitter and other social media seem to be real bummed that the Authority is back. And not in a way like "I can't wait for Cena to fight them!" or anything like that. Each generation of fans is learning that stips mean basically nothing. I think a lof of fans were emotionally invested in the Survivor Series angle. Probably why there were so many more buys than expected. Think a lot of people feel ripped off right now. I guess putting Bryan with them again will quell some of the frustration but again this might be met with negative heat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Gotta love the fact Stephy & Hunter came back the same day Daniel Bryan did. That way, if anything positive happens, you can attribute it to… well, you know the drill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Thought that was a pretty awesome RAW, best in a long time. Felt like they let someone else write it than whoever has been in charge lately. This might sound like a complaint, but it's really just an observation.....they're probably better served spreading out all the returns and big angles than throwing everything on one show. This show had Edge & Christian, Brock, Barrett, the first Rusev/Ziggler match, the first Rollins/Reigns match! (amazed they did this on tv), a tag title change, the Ascension debut, and the return of the Authority. That's a LOT for one show, the only things they held back on were Orton and Sting. I was listening to some old Observer Radio shows and Dave was making this point back in 05 or 06 when they had a 3 hour RAW and brought back Hogan, Flair, Piper and a ton of other stuff because the ratings had been down. Almost a decade later and nothing has changed. But again, it made for an awesome show. A few thoughts - More proof that Reigns isn't ready as the crowd was barely engaged in what SHOULD have been a huge match. Partly WWE's fault for just throwing it out there like that....but it also tells me they're waving from the Reigns plan otherwise they wouldn't give away this match and it was probably another way to gauge where Roman is at after the disaster with Big Show on RAW. I really hope for his sake they give him a slower build and aim for SummerSlam or WM next year. I don't see any reason to not take their time with him and build him up with a secondary title....it worked for Cena, Warrior and lots of other guys. Also, they need to modify his gear because it looks super lame - Bryan has to win the Rumble, right? Doesn't make sense to bring him back and put him in only to lose - The Ascension debut came off extremely underwhelming. The key to them is their offense looking like it kills people ala Road Warriors/Eliminators etc......and it looked sloppy and unimpressive. Doesn't help that they aren't physically impressive compared to other people on the roster either. They've looked better in NXT so I don't want to completely write them off, but not off to a good start - I liked the Ryback promo. It was different and a nice change from what they usually do. When was the last time they referenced stuff from 4-5 let alone 10 years ago with someone like him? Refreshing when WWE usually pretends like what happened a couple months ago never happened, let alone years ago - The Authority being brought back doesn't bother me, because I knew it was going to happen sooner than later. WWE actually honored this stip longer than usual (every Cena stip ever), but as soon as they did the "only John Cena can bring them back!" stuff and did the finish with Sting you knew they'd be back by the Rumble to start building to HHH vs. Sting at Mania. The one thing that bothered me about it is nobody else coming out to help (where's Ziggler for example?!! Bryan? Usos? All the people in the back who hate the Authority?!) but they do that shit all the time so it's just one of those annoying WWE-isms that you learn to live with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Didn't Edge spend years fighting John Cena and pulling all sorts of dastardly tricks to endanger his career? Makes zero sense that John Cena would risk it all for him, they didn't even play up a holier than thou 'forgive thy enemies' type deal to it. Just a promo earlier in the show about how much he 'respects' the guy who tried to destroy and humiliate him for years. I got a kick out of the champagne hug linking arms at the end though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 And why are WWE running Reigns vs Rollins so early as a random match on Raw with a bullshit finish that everyone saw coming? Roman Reings shuld be protected, they should be saving all the big matches and having him win competetive squashs. That is if they have him work on television at all. Twenty minute throwaway matches on Raw are completely counterproductive. They used to protect matchups by having multiman tags as commonplace, but that seems to have been phased out. One good thing about Evolution era Raw was that they could have big matches every week without blowing the big 1 v 1 megabouts that should be saved for PPV with a build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillThompson Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Was talking about this with KrisZ, on Twitter, but just because Bryan is back doesn't mean he's getting Reigns spot. I'm thinking Cena beats Lesnar at the Rumble, Reigns eliminates Bryan to win the Rumble, and that way we end up with Bryan/Lesnar as the semi-main and Cena/Reigns as the main at Mania, with Reigns coming out champ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 So if the plan is Bryan winning the belt again at WM (which given their location makes perfect sense); what is the plan for Rollins to cash in the briefcase? If you are going to continue the Rollins top heel thing then night after WM would work except that it would just be a huge F U to the crowd The worse part of Authority coming back is that it makes an already putrid commentary a lot worse. I mean Smackdown is going to be mute central with JBL and Cole just spewing the same lines on RAW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Was talking about this with KrisZ, on Twitter, but just because Bryan is back doesn't mean he's getting Reigns spot. I'm thinking Cena beats Lesnar at the Rumble, Reigns eliminates Bryan to win the Rumble, and that way we end up with Bryan/Lesnar as the semi-main and Cena/Reigns as the main at Mania, with Reigns coming out champ. Sounds good to me. But I'd make Seth cash in on Roman because that dude shouldn't have a real run with the belt yet. Another scenario I'd like for Bryan would be getting eliminated by Rusev and then those two having a classic at Mania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Why the hell would anyone want to watch a show where the evil bosses always end up having the last laugh? People already get enough of that in their actual lives.Every Soap Opera ever? How are soaps doing these days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Ryback doing Positively Page and Bad News Barrett using the awful "It's me it's me" cachphrase is coincidental, right ? Cesaro doing the ever succesful "I'm just a wrestler" gimmick…. Roman Reigns is so not ready for the top spot. The Ascension. Okay. This is right out of the worst of 93 WCW. At least the Master Blasters were big. After binge watching Lucha Underground for a week, the acting and vignettes on WWE TV look even more low rent than usual. Jerry Lawler is redifining useless at this point. "The darkest day in the history of WWE". I know that Vince is shouting in his ears, but come on… Why couldn't Rusev win the IC title anyway ? Have him collect belts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 I think bringing HHH & Steph back is necessary for Mania season as they're solid characters who can factor into numerous storylines that unfortunately simply would languish without them. That being said, this felt like an incredibly weak way to get there as I'd rather it be teased and dragged out for a couple weeks. At least save their first return appearance for the next show and try to build some intrigue there rather than drop it 11:15. On the other hand, DANIEL BRYAN. For whatever reason he makes a mark out of me and many others. People genuinely like him and you get excited and invested in his storylines and seeing him perform. That's otherwise wholly absent and has been pretty much since he went on the shelf. If 1997 Shawn Michaels had this guy on his TV he'd know where to find his smile. I'm cautiously optimistic he's winning the Rumble, but could see other scenarios play out. As long as he's a featured player the show will be a lot more interesting on a week to week basis. I'm happy to have that. If they do run with him this year, its also probably for the best as it'll give Reigns a chance to develop in the ring and on the mic before trying to crown him again next year when he'll hopefully look ready for the part and have people genuinely excited rather than curious about it. The Rollins match last night did zero favors for either but hopefully they can heat it up enough to have that be a hot match going into Mania. A Mania with Bryan/Brock, Cena/Rusev, HHH/Sting and Rollins/Reigns sounds pretty damn fun, and that's leaving aside whatever walking dead/true blood nonsense they conjure up for Bray, along with spots for Ziggler, Ambrose and the inevitable, slow burning Miz/Mizdow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 I have managed to skip through anything involving The Ascension since the first promo aired. Haven't watched more than a few minutes of Tthat awful group with Kofi, K-Kwik and Big E either, since when did happy, smiling, colorfully dressed babyfaces work since the 80s? Once Michael Cole starts throwing in his canned laughter and telling us how 'fun' it is with a fake inane grin you know it is time to throw in the towel. WWE has no clue how to debut undercard and midcard acts. You can see that with Bo Dallas, Fandango and Adam Rose. Same boring scthick week after week after tedious week until creative concludes it 'isn't working' and they get jobbed out, put in comedy angles and either released or rebranded. Rinse and repeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 HHH is probably needed for Wrestlemania season, as much as it pains me to say it. A better way to bring him back might have been as a surprise Royal Rumble participant as a wrestler, since he is still employed just no longer as 'the authority'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerpride Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Was talking about this with KrisZ, on Twitter, but just because Bryan is back doesn't mean he's getting Reigns spot. I'm thinking Cena beats Lesnar at the Rumble, Reigns eliminates Bryan to win the Rumble, and that way we end up with Bryan/Lesnar as the semi-main and Cena/Reigns as the main at Mania, with Reigns coming out champ. Does Reigns turn heel in this scenario? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sporadic Posted December 30, 2014 Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 HHH is probably needed for Wrestlemania season, as much as it pains me to say it. A better way to bring him back might have been as a surprise Royal Rumble participant as a wrestler, since he is still employed just no longer as 'the authority'. Here's creative: Trips comes back as a wrestler in order to make a play to regain control. RR comes, Trips looks like he's going to score a dirty win for the WM spot and start to truly solidify his power base again...Here comes Sting to eliminate him. Boom match set for WM. That can write itself. Instead we get to REDO late 2013-most of 2014 again for 2015. It's honestly sad to see how desperate they are for threatening heels they had to bring Trips and Steph back just a little over a month since SS. They've done everything possible with the exception of Rusev to ensure that everyone just not get over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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