WWE TV March 7th to 13th

[Grimmas]

The build to Roadblock in Toronto continues. What are they going to do to load up the card to make Steven a happy kid in attendance?

[Strummer]

word is there is a big angle set for the first hour of Raw that will build a major mania match

 

 

Meltz:

 

 

 

A big surprise is being pushed for Raw tonight. Rumors are going around that it's Sami Zayn, but I can't confirm that past the point Zayn is booked for WrestleMania as well as the Montreal and Toronto shows this weekend. The timing of him appearing on Raw would make sense to be this week or next. John Cena tweeted about the surprise and it could also involve him. But the surprise is scheduled at the start of the show and they're pushing it to build the early audience.

[C.S.]

But the surprise is scheduled at the start of the show and they're pushing it to build the early audience.

 

Does this really sound like Sami Zayn to you? I love him - he's my favorite - but he's not someone they'd use at this point in time "to build the early audience."

 

Just to clarify, I know you were only quoting Meltz - I realize you're not saying yourself that it's Zayn.

 

Hell, I hope it's Zayn, but the report is contradictory because he's not what anyone would consider a major draw (yet) or major surprise.

 

Edit: Looks like it was Zayn, and I'm happy. Still puzzled by Meltz's "build an early audience" line, but he's never been the most coherent writer.

[Jimmy Redman]

As I was watching the tag title match, seeing AJ and the heels nail their shit and Jericho always being half a step off, I thought to myself "Instead of giving them a tag title reign, they should make it where Jericho is the weak link for being too old to keep up, and his heel turn is borne out of his inadequacy."

 

And then that's kind of what they did. So that's...something.

[Parties]

Thought we'd have to wait until next week for Jericho's "you're all sheep while I am a real smart guy" promo.

[Loss]

I understand why they do it, but I hate that every wrestler is so polite to clear the announce table of monitors before throwing someone on it.

[Johnny Sorrow]

As I was watching the tag title match, seeing AJ and the heels nail their shit and Jericho always being half a step off, I thought to myself "Instead of giving them a tag title reign, they should make it where Jericho is the weak link for being too old to keep up, and his heel turn is borne out of his inadequacy."

 

And another of my hats remain uneaten.

[Parties]

What voice does Cody have now? It's like he's still doing the Stardust gimmick, but has added a growling Cajun accent? It actually makes the character way better if he becomes a Mardi Gras masker doing a John Goodman impression.

[fakeplastictrees]

Mark Henry deciding to have a slice (slices?) of pizza received a pop that was in the top ten for tonight. Mark Henry vs. Chicago Deep Dish. Book It!

 

Chris Jericho reminds me of The first Godfather movie and more specifically the first 40 minutes or so where nothing happens and its just all talking and boring, until the talking ends and the story gets rolling. Jericho has been like that for years and I have hated him for it (among other reasons), but the stuff he did tonight is what it has all been building toward. The mid-life crisis "cool dad" who lost a millions steps in the ring finally having to look into the mirror and see what is really going on. Jericho is a multi-time world champion and has been a champion in all 3 major 90's promotions. Is he in the HOF? Nope. Is he brought back to headline Mania like Batista, HHH, and Rock? Nope. Is he even in the main title picture and being treated like the big deal his resume makes him out to be? Nope. Jericho is trying to stay relevant and cool by latching onto the hottest free agent in WWE Proper and its fucking eating him alive.

 

Just good stuff all around.

[RCS1988]

Henry loses in the end in the Book it match. Also Mania 33 for the Citrus Bowl April 2, 2017. They should announce Mania 34 for Philly or Minnesota in 2018, so then people will have something to look forward to the following year instead of waiting to hear the announcement.

[WingedEagle]

I understand why they do it, but I hate that every wrestler is so polite to clear the announce table of monitors before throwing someone on it.

 

Given the copious notes the announcers have, why not prompt them to clear the monitors off-camera before the spot?

[clintthecrippler]

 

 

I understand why they do it, but I hate that every wrestler is so polite to clear the announce table of monitors before throwing someone on it.

Given the copious notes the announcers have, why not prompt them to clear the monitors off-camera before the spot?

You mean like a couple of weeks ago when Byron Saxton passed a blood capsule to Roman Reigns off camera but cell phone video of him doing that was all over the Internet moments after the show was over?

[Slasher]

Having the announcers remove the monitors would either telegraph the upcoming table spot (if done way too soon) or paint the announcers as bloodlusted who actively encourage that spot (if done as a spur of the moment right before). Is that really something you want the announcers to act that way?

[MoS]

Having the announcers remove the monitors would either telegraph the upcoming table spot (if done way too soon) or paint the announcers as bloodlusted who actively encourage that spot (if done as a spur of the moment right before). Is that really something you want the announcers to act that way?

 

Agreed with the first point, but as for the 2nd point, it can be easily explained that the announcers guessed that a pissed-off wrestler was going to put another one through the table, and they did not want the wrestler to get crippled for life, which is what those monitors could do, and therefore, they took initiative on their own to minimise injury.

[Coffey]

I'd rather they removed the announcing tables from ringside again, truthfully. That's a pretty contrived spot & nowadays, it's just a cliché.

 

I also find it odd how WWE seem to be pushing the WWE Network show this Saturday so hard & damn-near ignoring Wrestlemania in the process. That's what it feels like to me. I mean, they have done some groundwork for Wrestlemania, don't get me wrong... but the push for this WWE Network show, it feels like it's more important than Wrestlemania. Maybe it's just because it is happening first, but it feels like a bigger show than the last PPV as well. Kind of odd.

[anarchistxx]

Watched the last few episodes of Raw after a while out of the product...and it is still jammed with filler, meaningless matches and tedium. Three hours is way too long. I'm in favor of a brand split in principle, but they would need to slash Raw and build up some more interesting characters.

 

Brief thoughts:

 

One thing that strikes me is that there is zero cross pollination between storylines. In the past it seemed feuds would come together, whether by six man tags or shared segments. The booking had some depth. Now, you have eight matches on a PPV and they are treated as eight separate television shows of their own, just individual segments week after week without any mix. Why can't Shane/Vince mix with HHH/Ambrose or Styles/Jericho or all the other stuff going on. If nothing else, it elevates lesser names to get some screen time working with the bigger stars - think 2 Cool wrestling alongside The Rock, Mankind and HHH in the main event of Raw, or the Hardy Boys and Spike Dudley getting screen time with heel Austin.

 

They need to keep hold of Brie Bella - her and Nicki are the highlights of the Divas division and probably the only genuine stars with a lot of charisma in there. Between Charlotte and Paige they have the bones of a fantastic Divas division with a good mix of soapy bitchiness and solid in ring action.

Dean Ambrose is fucking horrendous now. They are playing up the 'unhinged' 'quirky' sides of his personality and the writing is woeful, most of the lines he has to say make me cringe. His time on the mic should be kept to the minimum. He should be the hardcore nutjob brawling around the arena with the occasional short wild shouting on the mic, not trading scripted barbs with HHH from the ring and exaggerating all these mannerisms to appear a 'lunatic'. Looks like some awful D-Movie. There is no way he can ever be the top face of the company either, doesn't have the aura about him. At best he can take the Mankind role but he isn't good enough as a character or a talker.

 

Kevin Owens sucks. terrible look, average in the ring, looks awkward, no character or distinctive features. Will never draw a dime. The same as most of these NXT guys - Tyler Breeze, Adam Rose, Bo Dallas. Most of them come off so unnatural. Playing at being a wrestler. Maybe it is the booking. I'll probably get stick for saying that, but then I thought Bray Wyatt was an abomination when everyone was singing his praises, and opinion has very much turned on that one.

 

Dolph Ziggler deserves a title run. He is ridiculously (bafflingly) over, despite being booked horrendously for years. He has paid his dues. The fans buy him. He is marketable. He can make a moment feel big, like the Survivor Series underdog victory a couple of years ago. They could do far worse than giving him a run for a few months, if they are wavering on Roman Reigns.

 

Then again, I think Titus O'Neil should be the top heel in the promotion, so maybe I;m just talking crap.

[goc]

I was kind of with you until that 'Dolph Ziggler deserves a title run' part and then I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

[jcmmnx]

Yeah man just build the show around Brie Bella and Dolph Ziggler. It'll be awesome.

[anarchistxx]

FTR I can't stand Dolph Ziggler. Horrible name, horrible wrestler. Would never knowingly seek out one of his matches. But if someone is ridiculously over despite terrible booking, and has been for years, there is a strong argument that he deserves a title run.

[Slasher]

I do miss when they had the announcer table set up next to the sey and ramp. Wasn't it because JR complained about it that they moved it back? Maybe it is something to look into doing again.

 

As for Dolph, he bumps too ridiculously much for them to take seriously as the champion. Also in the WWE they have been willing to let guys who got really over slip through their fingers without getting a world title reign. They gave it to RVD because of their plans with ECW but he was probably going to lose that thing in the very next PPV, drug bust or not, because he was never really their plan. Jeff Hardy got the belt only after a decade in the company when they realized they could book this guy as someone to take seriously and capitalizing on his popularity in the process. When he returned from TNA/hiatus, he was booked as a guy with more edge to his character than ever before. Chris Jericho apparently can only become the champion as a heel and not their top babyface. Booker T only as a joke heel who won it from a joke midget. And the list goes on and on. Dolph as presently constructed is a guy they would never put the belt on before and they're not going to start now.

[Loss]

They moved the announcers away as part of an effort to distinguish Raw from Smackdown, the week after Bischoff came in. If my memory doesn't fail me, there for a few weeks, Raw felt a lot like Nitro and it wasn't just the position of the announce booth and Bischoff being there.

[Slasher]

Right, I know why they did it. I am saying I think JR hated it and preferred to be closer to the ring and closer to the action for him to do his job properly so they moved it back to ringside.

[fakeplastictrees]

If WWE is really going to do a brand split, I would love if they used Smackdown to get rid of the tropes that have been associated with both shows. Smackdown is taped so why not have Renallo and whomever just do it from CT? No announce table at ringside and just an old school 'from the studio' much like TNA *shudders* does currently. The shaky camera of course will have to do and adding two female refs would be nice and progressive for the company. Its 2016, what is the reason there are no Kim Winslows running around WWE?

[ButchReedMark]

Because you can't trust Vince around them.

[sek69]

You know what's odd about this whole Vince/Shane angle is both sides are kind of arguing the same point. Shane's side is that Vince doesn't give the fans what they want and everything sucks now. Vince's side is basically he does what he wants like taunt the fans by having Taker's bell hit then coming out to revel in the fans getting mad they thought they were going to see something cool.

 

If the reports saying Shane's only in until WM are true, then they're building this up on the story that Shane's the one who's going to make things better. If he loses, it's the biggest middlefinger/cockslap to the face to the fans they could possibly do. The Authority keeping control of Raw after WM would only give storyline purpose to bury the NXT callups that are supposed to be starting on the roster soon, since otherwise they'd just be doing what Shane said he would do if he won.

 

I mean, how is this angle supposed to end in a way that won't be a disaster? Either Shane beats the goddamned Undertaker at WM (which would be bullshit even with shenanigans), or this is just another rehash of SS 2014 where the Authority's power is in danger only to go right back to the status quo (which would only prove Shane right that Raw is nothing but boring crap under their rule).