WWE

[Captain Charisma]

The Duke of Decency is the Genius idea put on a talent like Rick Rude. After being cut at one point, he kept working, and by all accounts the Damien Sandow gimmick was all his own. Go ahead and call him Donald Trump's favorite wrestler, dude is $MONEY$

[Pigman]

Just a random thought I had this morning, I know it probably sounds pretty stupid but I just wanted to get some other people's thoughts on it. So I noticed this morning that they are advertising the Rhodes to be on Raw tonight. I'm pretty sure we all know by now the whole reason Rhodes was "fired" was because he had requested some time off for his honeymoon after just getting married. Now that he is back again it has me thinking that he might have possibly lucked out with this recent push. Now obviously they could have just faked an injury for him to get him off TV for a bit and just have him come back and resume his feud with Sandow at the mid card level. I know there were alot of rumors of him defeating Sandow and taking the briefcase from him which obviously would have gave him the same chance at main evening that he is now, however like I said those are just rumors so there are no guarantees that would've actually happened. So what the whole point of this was is that if he had not asked for the time of for his honeymoon would he not have gotten the same push he is getting now.

[bigraj]

You're probably right. If he hadn't have needed a little time off, that "firing" angle probably goes to Kofi, Miz or someone needing a short injury break.

[Captain Charisma]

I dunno, I could see them having the wheels turning on getting Dusty and Dustin getting involved somehow, and then involving his time off into that. The firing angle wouldn't work as well with anyone else. This angle needed Cody, it wasn't a paint by numbers angle that could be pulled off as effectively on anyone else.

With Cody they get Dusty involved, with Cody they can play on the perceived Rhodes/McMahon rivalry that we've been discussing since the internet first had chat rooms. Cody was getting hot with Damien and they needed help getting him over as a babyface. Involving Dusty is a natural fit. After Dustin's return at the Rumble got such a positive reaction, and him being on good turns with the company anyway is a bonus.

They could've granted Cody time off anyway they wanted, but I don't think that if they'd done the injury angle that someone else would have gotten the same angle. Course they could use different legends to run this angle with guys other than Cody, but this feels less paint by numbers to me, and more of a personalized for Cody angle.

[darthfoley]

Felt like last night wasn't quite as strong as the show has been lately. Liked Show finally getting fed up. The Rhodes stuff was good, but not as hot as the run in the prior week.

I'm so low on Orton that having him be so strong throughout probably colored my perceptions of the show too.

[Captain Charisma]

The wrestling didn't quite reach the level it's been of late. I loved the Rhodes angle, Dustin took a helluva spear. The Rhodes' boys getting a chance to fight for their jobs feels old-school. I smell a masked angle coming, lol. I've noticed the same thing in Jack, Darth. He hates "Boreton" so much that there is little that can be done to save his enjoyment of the show, but your meter wasn't off buddy, it wasn't as strong as recent weeks. Battleground feels like a throw away pay-per-view. No PPV should ever feel that way. It's ok to have a throw away Raw from time to time, but it should be reverse of last night, instead of having strong angles and promo's with sub-par wrestling, the wrestling should be strong and all the gimmicks toned down.

I thought the Heyman segment was great as well. My fellow Mississippians played along quite well. Fandango losing to Kofi twice in one week doesn't do anything for me. I mean Kofi isn't beyond saving, but winning filler matches on Raw is not going to rebuild all the breaking down they've done to that character. I enjoyed seeing Big E. on the show, he was the one guy they should've let talk a bit longer. But all in all the opening segment was well done I thought.

But I wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to CM Punk, and Daniel Bryan at this point. I enjoyed the beatdown to end the show. Vicious Orton is more entertaining than Vanilla Orton, but I wasn't totally lost on him prior to this resurgence the way you were Darth, or the way Jack is, so it is quite possible I'm giving him too much the benefit of the doubt.

Raw was better than the average Raw of 2010-2012, but one of the weaker shows in the last 2 months or so.

[bigraj]

I missed most of the show thanks to MNF, but I did see the Heyman/Ryback/Punk angle and loved it. Didn't get to see fired up Show, only him about to cry again. Doesn't sound like I missed much.

[darthfoley]

But you missed El Torito!

[jackknight]

lol. Think that was the best part of that gimmick. You can't give people charisma by throwing a costume on them.

And imo vicious Orton is just as boring as vanilla Orton. Just in a different way. You can't give yourself charisma by making stupid looking angry faces.

[darthfoley]

If Cena can't be champ, nobody can be champ damn it!

[jackknight]

lol. Didn't even think of that Foley. Another waste of a PPV. What was this the third in a row without an actual Title change? Only good to come out of it was the Rhodes winning their jobs back. Which could've happened at HiaC.

[jackknight]

Man WWE hates me. Going to get to see...

Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan w/ Triple H's boyfriend as special guest referee

The return of John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio

And Triple H vs. The Big Show


All live! Shoot me now. lol.

[Captain Charisma]

Trips vs Show has been confirmed for HIAC?

I tried so desperately to believe that the E would keep the focus on Daniel and Orton. I do not know why I consistently set myself up for disappoint that way. All the momentum, all the good will they had built as far as I am concerned went out the window once the focus of the main storyline shifted. I don't mind the Corporation being the top heels in the company, especially not when Steph is killing it on a regular basis, but to put the final nail in the coffin this past week, to remove the heat from the WWE Championship ALL TOGETHER was a brutal decision.

I can live with Trips and Show getting their slice of the heat. Being part of the overall storyline was fine, I'd rather see someone else in the ring, but Trips and Show can talk just fine, but the main focus had been Daniel and the company not wanting him on top. And it's been a shifting slightly week by week by week by week. Went from a 90/10 Split on Daniel's pursuit vs. HHH and Steph's power trip. Then 80/20, etc. Well Battleground, with an overbooked clusterfuck of a main event, with no finish at all, it finally shifted it to 80/20 Hunter vs. Big Show. And Daniel will lose his 20 percent after Shawn's involvement at HIAC.

I didn't want to believe you Jack. I hoped you were wrong, but you called it the night of Summerslam. How gullible am I?

[jackknight]

They haven't confirmed Hunter vs. Show yet. But the second he called Trips a son of a bitch I saw it coming. And Big Show punching him to end the night cemented it imo. Could be wrong, but I'm expecting the announcement.

[bigraj]

Not the greatest Raw on Monday, but now that the throwaway PPV is done, maybe some progress can be made at Hell in a Cell. Not sure if the Cena thing is a one-time thing designed to get us a Sandow cash in, or perhaps a way to help build up the World Heavyweight Title by having the #1 guy hold it for a while. Hopefully the Bryan-Corporation feud is swaying to the babyface side, as quite a bit of damage has been done to Bryan with the constant screw-overs and the neutering of most of the babyface roster.

[Captain Charisma]

That's what I'm hoping for Raj. That they were just trying to get through the Monday after Summerslam - Hell in a Cell, to get to a strong Survivor Series, and that things will pick up again. That would be the best thing to do for Sandow, in my mind. He has been losing to most of the roster, but has proven time and again that he can more than carry his end of a fantastic match, dare I say, he has proven he can carry his part of a main event match? I know Cena is a great athlete and has a history of returning early, but he ain't getting younger, and if the company wants him another decade, they need to protect him from himself from time to time.

I think a beautiful idea would be to have Cena win WHC, Sandow Cash in on him, "reinjure" his triceps. Cena returns as special entrant to the Rumble (but doesn't win) and from Rumble to Mania the top Smackdown feud is Cena vs. Sandow leading to a Mania match between them. I think that is a brilliant use of Cena at this point. He doesn't need belts, but has the ability to elevate any performer that he will give his all to. And if this comes to fruition, then win or lose at Mania, Sandow is bonafide. Has a 6/7 month reign as WHC and top dog on SD! gets a hot angle with Cena and a hot feud for 3 months to really have some serious momentum heading into a match with him at Mania.

Course if they are seriously pushing to get 100,000 into the Superdome then Cena's opponent won't be Damien Sandow. So even though making Sandow is legitimately best for business in the long-run, they need the main events to sell an additional couple thousand tickets each. I mean at this point, Mania itself will draw between 60 and 80k, right? With no matches announced I think they could sell 75,000 tickets for the show. So if they want to get to 100k the Taker, Rock, HHH, HBK, Cena, Jericho, Lesnar, Austin, all (most) of these guys will be involved whether us hardcore fans like it or not. We all want Taker there, I don't mind Cena being there, and I don't mind having one Superfight (don't hit me Jack) I wouldn't be against Hunter vs. Shawn, my problem with them running Hunter vs. Shawn is that there is no way it isn't treated as THE main event.

Taker is THE main event. WWE Title Next, then the Superfight, and then the hottest act down, is how it should work in my mind.

But I fear it will be Hunter vs. Shawn as the main focus, and then focus will be on Taker, Stone Cold, Rocky (if he is allowed), Lesnar, and Cena. Then focus on Jericho, Show, Punk, Bryan, Orton. And then a lot of talented guys get thrown together in a mixed bag of matches with lots of participants a little backstory. And what's scary, is that the WWE is probably right. To get from 80k to 100k, they might have to do it that way.

[darthfoley]

So, the tag title match was hot last night. Everything else was kinda middling, IMO. From what felt like an all out turn around a few weeks ago we're sorta back into the same old same old. Has DBry's shine really come off that fast?

[jackknight]

Having boring has-beens like Triple H and Shawn Michaels dominate a storyline with a dash of Randy "The Interest Killer" Orton will do that pretty quick.

Tag Title match was awesome though.

[bigraj]

I would've preferred they switched the tag titles at a PPV to pay off the Rhodes storyline, but I did love that match. Dustin's selling really made the match. Didn't like HHH bigfooting them to put the focus back on himself. At least let the new champs leave the ring after having their moment. Fuck, he is really ruining these shows. Can't wait till McMahons are off of my TV for an extended time again.

[Captain Charisma]

I'm glad they put the pay off on free TV because man alive, what a fan-fuckin-tastic tag team match that was. Lot's of emotion, good commentary, and lots of great action. I didn't even give a shit about Big Show being the difference maker this time cause he does owe the Rhodes' after KO'ing the Dream.

Did hate Hunter shoving them, though it fits the character, it was bad timing. Why can't he be pissed off and punish Dustin and Cody Friday and Monday? Let us have that moment of them with the belts, in the fuckin ring, to end the show. Bring Dream out, have Cole, JBL, and King shut up the last 2 minutes of air time.

AND it fits the storyline better, Trips and Steph come out earlier in the evening, finally saying out loud what we've all known, they're now the bad guys, and everyone will be punished. Doesn't that very Raw ending with babyfaces celebrating lead to reasoning for unreal punishments? Dustin has given so much to this angle, and there is A LOT OF MILEAGE on his 40 years, he got started YOUNG in Florida and has been going hard. From his match with Orton to the 3 tag matches he's had on TV, he looks amazing, like 1995 Natural Dustin Rhodes. I hope they let him run all the way to Mania.

As middling (great description BTW) as the rest of it was, that match made up for it. I'm a professed mark for good tag team wrestling, but it doesn't get much better than that in 2013. That and the Punk promo/announcement were the only things that really stood out, bumped my overall thoughts on the show up. Funny how stellar wrestling can change my opinion on the overall quality of a 3 hour broadcast.

[bigraj]

It was pretty great to see a tag team title match as the main event. I wish they'd get back to trying to push an actual tag division. They started doing that, then seemingly dropped it, outside of The Shield.

[darthfoley]

They've got the makings of a fun tag division for sure. Usos, PTP, Real Americans, etc. Nothing on the days of the MX and RnR or anything, but I think you can get some good stuff out of those teams. Even Tons of Funk, used properly (ie as monsters, not goofs).

Wasn't terribly fond of Show appropriating the 'Yes!' thing, now that I think about it. DBry has enough crap chipping away at his 'mystique' already.

[Captain Charisma]

Agreed on Show doing the "Yes" chant, after HHH already stole it in their promo. "Yes" is no longer just Daniel's, it's now part of the angle which is total bull shit.

Yea the tag division could be super hot. Uso's, PTP's, Rhodes Boys, Los Matadores, and Gabriel, Kidd, Truth, Kofi floating around to fill out babyface side. Shield, Real Americans, Let Ton's of Funk turn heel on their "stupid gimmick," Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins, Yoshi Tatsu are all travelling with the main roster and not doing anything.

[Captain Charisma]

Tag teams are the perfect vehicle to give NXT talent test runs on the big show anyway. It's not entirely up to them to get over. Having a manager or a partner seems like the perfect way to introduce guys, I can't figure out why I'm the only one who thinks that is a good idea lol.

[bigraj]

Pretty good Bryan-Ambrose match.