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Matt's Monday Night RAW Recap - 1/19/2015

Been a busy weekend for me and I haven't had a chance to breathe...

Let's see if the Going Home show's any good...

We start with WWE's Martin Luther King Day video package that's actually pretty well-edited. It gets a nice round of applause from the crowd and has Cole, JBL and Booker (on the mics, of course) standing in applause. 

Main Titles which highlights Randy Orton, Sheamus and Lesnar who have wrestled approximately 1 match combined in the last four months.

We are LIVE(!!!) from Dallas, Texas!!!

TONIGHT: A RAW Reunion with Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, X-Pac, and The New Age Outlaws. Didn't these people all see each other less than a year ago at WrestleMania?

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman start us off. Heyman begins his speech but Lesnar just grabs the mic and calls out Rollins. He says when he shows up, it's fightin' time. Like last week, when he was just there to sign a contract. Brock: "That's right, baby. When I show up, you're nowhere to be found." It's hard to take Brock seriously when he sounds like Jimmy Hart.

Triple H shows up and says that he gets why Brock is mad -- but Brock started this whole thing at the contract signing. Brock's not having it. He's here to fight. Heyman begs Brock not to do anything, screaming that Triple H "pays the bills". 

That brings out Steph with Big Show and Kane. She tells Brock to back off. Everyone stands in silence and Brock just stares at Triple H and the other guys. 

That brings us Rollins on the Jumbotron. He calls Brock a "caveman" and says that he'll get a shot at him -- and he'll take Brock's title. Lesnar tells the Authority to put a leash on their "puppy". Heyman says that they don't want Brock to "fix this". If THEY fix it, Brock will be happy. If BROCK fixes it, they'll have bodies all around the ring and a depleted roster.

Aaaaand, here comes John Cena dressed like Joel from MST3K, circa Season 2. Cena tells Rollins to shut up. Cena wants to tell the Authority face to face: they put him through hell and he wants them to keep it up. On Sunday, he'll take out their little mercenary and Seth Rollins. He says that he'll reduce this all to ashes. Then calls The Authority, "Ash-holes". Ba-dum-tish.

Cena tries to leave but Steph brings him back and says that Cena used to be a role model -- but that's not who he is today. Cena lied to everyone by bringing the Authority back. Steph says nobody wants to see him win anymore. Rollins calls him a loser, too. He's been losing over and over. Cena's time is up and it's time to step away. He botches a line, telling Cena to tuck his "legs between his legs".

Cena says he's not sure how that's physically possible, but he'll find the room that Rollins is in and he will rip his "mouth off his face". (DANIELLE: But he'd still be able to talk...why doesn't he threaten to dye his hair one color instead? That sounds more threatening.) He still wants the Fired Three to have their jobs back.

Triple H decides to make a match: if Cena wins, then they get their jobs back, so we're going to this same ol' well again. If Cena loses, he will give up his spot in the Triple Threat Match at Royal Rumble. He asks what Cena thinks. The crowd chants, "YES". Triple H won't let him answer that: that's up to the WWE Universe. That's right. You have nothing but yourself to blame for tonight's bullshit.

And, finally, after 22 minutes, we're done with this segment.

Cole explains how to download the WWE app in case you've lived under a rock for the last five years.

NEXT: Daniel Bryan faces Bray Wyatt.

MATCH #1: Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan
Deja-fucking-vu. Bryan's entrance gets a wild pop. He kicks Bray in the corner but Bray puts Bryan to the mat. Bryan takes over again but Bray leaves the ring. Bryan hits a slide kick and hits a Flying Goat off the top rope -- and out comes Kane for your weekly cup of Shitty Finish. After a break, he's sitting at ringside as Bray beats Bryan up outside the ring. Back in the ring, Bray hits a flying tackle and chokes Bryan against the bottom rope as Booker recounts how "great" their match at last year's Royal Rumble. Bray drops an elbow. Booker: "Oh, that's it." What? Bryan finally breaks a Sleepr with a Chinbreaker but Bray hits a HUGE clothesline. We go to another break.

Bray hits a Reverse Senton when we come back. Bryan comes back with and elbow, then nearly overshoots a corner dropkick and hits a bunch of YES Kicks. He hits a Frankensteiner off the top turnbuckle and we get more YES Kicks. He misses the big kick and Bray flies out of the ring on a rush. Bryan hits a Flying Goat and puts Bray back in -- and Kane attacks, whacking Bryan's head on the mat, then puts him back in where Bray hits Sister Abigail for a completely arbitrary win at 16:15. Your former champ, ladies and gentlemen.
WINNER: Bray Wyatt via Sister Abigail
RATING: **1/4. This was not "awesome", as the crowd suggested.

Post-match, it's Yet Another Authority Beatdown, with Kane hitting a Chokeslam and then clubbing away at him. 

YES OR NO: Will Cena wrestle on a wrestling show? You can vote on that.

Dolph wants to wrestle. He said so on Twitter.

TONIGHT: A "wrestling panel" with Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair.

Apparently, Smackdown was #1. They beat everything on TV on Thursday, including Fox News, which is like bragging about beating up Stephen Hawking. Yes, I somehow just equated the two. That's ironic.

Triple H is backstage, yacking on his cell. Diesel and Razor Ramon Kevin Nash and Scott Hall show up to "reunion" or whatever. Shawn joins them. They want to know where X-Pac is. "X-Dow" shows up instead and does a perfect impression of X-Pac. X-Pac shows up and he's impressed. Miz tells Miz-dow to go get dressed and then walks off. Nash: "What the hell kinda show are you runnin' here, man?" Triple H facepalms and says, "I'm so ashamed."

EARLIER TONIGHT: Triple H left it up to the WWE Universe to book a match ending in a DQ.

John Cena is backstage with Renee Young. But, whoops, that was an early edit. 

Byron Saxton is in the ring to introduce our "Legends Panel": Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Shawn Michaels. It's hard to get with the "Sexy Boy" theme when Michaels dresses like he's hunting deer in 20 minutes. Byron asks if Cena should put his title opportunity on the line. Michaels and Hogan think so. Flair doesn't. Isn't this awesome? Why isn't the crowd chanting that? 

Flair recounts how awesome it was to win the Royal Rumble in '92. So does Michaels. Hogan tells everyone that the competition was fierce in the Royal Rumble. Hulkamania helped him survive.

Michaels picks Bray Wyatt to win the Royal Rumble. The Orange Goblin disagrees. Michaels yells at him and says Hogan always pushes him. Hogan stands up. Michaels mocks Hogan and invokes SummerSlam 2005. Hogan: "You don't want any of that again, do ya'?" Michaels: "Yeah, you're right. I'll sit back down." Hogan picks Daniel Bryan to win. Flair picks Dean Ambrose, then dances around. 

And here comes the somehow-still-relevant Big Show. The crowd yells that Show sold out. Show gets angry and says they would have done the same thing if it was for their family. Hogan tells Show they don't want Show out here. Show tells Hogan to back off and says that Michaels and Flair have been jealous of him. Show says that he's beaten Hogan for the World Championship. He mocks Flair and says he took Flair's shot at the title once. He says Michaels fears him. He calls the Legends "washed up" and says they're begging for another shot. He says that nobody in the back can beat him. That's why he's winning the Rumble because nobody can throw him over the top rope, history be damned. 

He tells them that he's giving them a chance to leave the ring. Flair: "Are you done?" Flair removes his coat. Michaels and Flair get ready to fight. Flair hits chops, then runs into a KO. Show blames the crowd for that. 

And out comes Reigns. Show tells him to hold up and says that if he stays in the ring, Reigns will get hurt. He asks him Reigns understands. Reigns just attacks, then clotheslines him over the top rope because nobody can put a Giant out of the ring.

Cena's backstage with Renee. The WWE Universe has voted to see Cena risk it all. Cena will overcome. That's about the long and short of it.

When we come back...Cole is excited for the Rumble: "The Royal Rumble is my favorite because it happens once a year!" Unlike the 11 other WWE PPV's.

And what the hell? A MATCH?! It's been over an hour. I thought I was watching a series of NBA Pre-Game interviews.

MATCH #2: WWE Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose (non-title)
Ambrose gets an early upper hand and hits a nice elbow off the top rope. Barrett comes back and kicks him in the throat. Two count. After a break, Barrett is in control. Sleeper hold on Ambrose. Ambrose breaks and hits a roll-up for two, then hits a Rebound Clothesline. He goes top rope but Barrett knocks him off. Barrett tries the Bullhammer but Ambrose hits a Dirty Deeds for the win at 8:29.
WINNER: Dean Ambrose
RATING: *

TONIGHT: If Cena wins: The Fired Three are rehired. If he loses, Cena gives up his spot at the Rumble match.

The Dallas Cowboys are at ringside as JBL says that they were screwed.

And a loooooooong Royal-Rumble-By-the-Numbers preview.

New Day hits the ring with Xavier Woods saying weird, cryptic shit like, "We won't succumb to rage because the roster will go to the hospital.

TOMORROW: Santino's Royal Rumble Lottery Specatcular

MATCH #3: The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) (w/ Xavier Woods) vs. Tyson Kidd (w/ Natalya) & Cesaro (w/ Adam Rose & Exotic Express)
Big E hits a Spinebuster on Kidd, then tags Kofi who hits a dropkick on Tyson as he flies through the air, courtesy of an E set-up. Kofi gets an uppercut to the face. Cesaro hits a Delayed Suplex and tags Tyson with his other arm. Tyson pulls Kofi to the mat, then puts on a side headlock. Tag to Cesaro who hits a Cesaro Swing to Dropkick. Big E breaks the pin by Tyson. Cesaro gets in and hits a headlock. Kofi breaks and ends up in the corner. Kofi rushes at Cesaro who catches him. Kofi tries a pin but Cesaro runs him back to his own corner. Kofi accidentally kicks Tyson and then rolls up Cesaro for the win at 3:03.
WINNER: New Day.
RATING: DUD. Tyson and Kidd are worth so much more than this, New Day is DOA and WTF is Adam Rose even doing out here?

NEXT: The nWo is out here because we only need 4 matches on a 3 hour show.

ON SMACKDOWN: Daniel Bryan faces Kane in a No-DQ Match. If Bryan loses, he is out of the Royal Rumble.

Out comes the perpetually-drunk Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and X-Pac. Scott Hall does the "HEY, YO" bit and says that a reunion of old guys isn't possible with the three of them. Hall asks how many people are there for the RAW reunion. People cheer. Hall asks the same question and tacks on "with the nWo?" Nash says they can re-live the nWo's rise to power on WWE Network. Then he says the nWo was responsible for the Attitude Era. Nash says he's not an egotist but they're responsible for "everything great". X-Pac starts growling and...out comes The Ascension.

They get into the ring and X-Pac tells them to bring it up. Viktor says it's nice to see them. But they're just three old dogs begging to be put out of their misery. Konnor: "And we're the two to do it." Sigh...he even doubles down with "We're born and bred to rip and shred." Viktor calls then a tag team from WCW as Kevin Nash facepalms and tries not to laugh. 

The crowd chants for the nWo. Hall tosses his toothpick at Konnor and we're ready to go. JBL has had enough. He sheds his jacket and unbuttons his shirt to reveal an APA shirt. He says he made a phone call to an old friend. It's Ron Simmons. The Ascension tells them all to bring it on. 

And here come the New Age Outlaws. Jesse James goes for a cheap pop with a Dallas Cowboys reference. He says that this ring is full of stallions -- so who invited the jackasses? The Outlaws destroy The Ascension. JBL warms up the Clothesline from Hell and hits it.

RIP, Ascension. If this was the final burial, at least they went out, courtesy of some of the legends.

NEXT: MORE TALKING AS TRIPLE H AND STEPH TELL CENA WHO HE FACES.

Triple H and Steph are backstage. Steph wants a drumroll. And there's a guy back there with him, doing a drumroll. Cena will face Seth Rollins. And The Big Show. And Kane. Steph fires the drumroll guy because he kept stopping the drumroll before each opponent was named. A dude shows up to play Taps. 

The Bella Twins are at ringside.

MATCH #4: Paige & Natalya vs. Summer Rae & Alicia Fox
Paige is caught in a wristlock, but whatever. Paige tags Nattie anyhow, while Summer looks slightly befuddled. The two hit a double suplex and it's tags in and out until Summer hits a high spinning kick for a two count. Fox tags in and hits Northern Lights for two. Fox slams Nattie but misses a flipping legdrop. "Hot tag" to Paige and she's all over Fox's shit with kicks, a drop kick and a Superkick for two. Another double team by Nattie and Paige and it's the PTO by Paige to win at 2:56.
WINNERS: Nattie and Paige
RATING: DUD.

Nikki taunts Paige and Nattie with the Divas title as if that belt matters anymore.

TONIGHT: Cena is in a handicap match. AND THE WWE UNIVERSE IS TO BLAME.

AT THE ROYAL RUMBLE: New Day will face Adam Rose, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd on the Royal Rumble pre-show.

Rusev is out for his usual squash. Truth tries to scare him, pre-match, by calling him "cupcake" and saying "Whoomp, there it is" which the fans chant. Thanks, Truth.

MATCH #5: WWE United States Champion Rusev (w/ Lana) vs. R-Truth (non-title)
Superkick, Accolade, done at 45 seconds.
WINNER: Rusev via Accolade
RATING: DUD.

It's hard to call Rusev "unstoppable" when he keeps wrestling fluff and frustratingly gets over at the expense of guys like Ambrose. 

Rollins is backstage, walking to the ring entrance and bragging to the Security team about how he's gonna embarrass Cena. He runs into Brock who says that he hopes Rollins beats Cena so that he can take Rollins out 1 on 1. 

MATCH #6: Jey Uso (w/ Jimmy Uso) vs. The Miz (w/ Damien Miz-dow)
Miz and Miz-dow pose until Jey rolls Miz up for two. Miz chokes Jey on the ropes and hits the Miz-Breaker for two. Miz leaps at Jey and gets two. SCF by Miz misses and Jey hits a Superfly Splash for the win at 2:56 while Damien Miz-dow imitates it all because stunt doubles work just like voodoo dolls. Get it yet??? DO YOU GET THIS CHARACTER???
WINNER: Jey Uso
RATING: DUD.

WHY WOULD YOU PAY ALMOST 60 BUCKS FOR A PPV WHEN YOU CAN PAY TEN DOLLARS??? YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE. DON'T DO THAT. YOU'RE ALSO THE ONE WHO BOOKED THE MAIN EVENT TONIGHT, WEREN'T YOU??? 

Hulk Hogan says Cena will win tonight.

AT THE ROYAL RUMBLE: The Ascension faces The New Age Outlaws. Oh. Ok.

MATCH #7: Seth Rollins (w/ Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury), Big Show, & Kane (w/ Triple H & Stephanie McMahon) vs. John Cena in a 3-on-1 Handicap Match
Rollins starts but then backs up and tags Big Show. Cena runs into a shoulder tackle, so it's time to settle in for 15 minutes of Cena peril. Rollins comes in and clotheslines Cena. Two count. Rollins kicks at Cena. Tag to Kane who beats on Cena and runs his head into Show's boot. Tag to Show who splashes Cena in the corner. Cena tries to fight back and attempts to slam Show but Show just falls on him for two. Break time.

Rollins is in the ring with Cena who gets splashed. Two count. Rollins puts on a Sleeper Hold. Cena fights out and puts Rollins against the buckle but Rollins hits a Flying Neckbreaker off the ropes for two. Tag to Show who goes for a Vader Bomb but misses. Tag to Rollins who misses a Curb Stomp and it's Moves 1 through 4. AA attempt doesn't work because Security gets involved and that doesn't end in a DQ because reasons. Rollins ends up in an AA anyhow but Cena gets dragged out of the ring by Kane. It's a shoulder tackle by Show and Cena is down, outside.

Cena gets up at nine and gets back into the ring before 10. Kane sets up for a Chokeslam and hits it but Cena kicks out at two. Tag to Rollins who tries to set up for a Curb Stomp -- and Sting appears on the Jumbotron. JBL: "That's a picture of Sting." Sting's music hits and he's on his way out. He points at the heels and Cena rolls Rollins up for the win at 13:58.
WINNER: John Cena
RATING: **.

Post-match, Cena celebrates as Sting just vanishes into the same place Triple H and Steph came from. Triple H is pissed and tells Sting to get back here. The crowd chants WE WANT STING. Instead, here's Brock Lesnar to start the Royal Rumble teaser finish for 2015. He attacks Rollins. Kane and Show attack Lesnar. Lesnar hits an F5 on both Kane and Show. Rollins escapes with his life...and that's it.

Wow. They finished virtually on-time.

OVERALL: **1/2. Way too much talking for a wrestling show. We had less than an hour of wrestling on a 2 1/2 hour show.

Er...that's it.

Andy PG may or may not cover Santino's Royal Rumble show. Man, that's a hard one to think about writing about. We have Bayless and Scott doing retro shows. Tommy Hall has NXT and Smackdown and Andy PG will give you a nice wrestling sammitch with the Superstars recap to send you into your weekend. The Royal Rumble is Sunday and I'm sure Scott will have a review. If not, one of us will recap that. Till' next week...

Thank you to all the BoD'ers and, hey, if you wanna read more of our stuff, visit WE HATE YOUR GIMMICK at http://wehateyourgimmick.blogspot.com and, of course, visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/wehateyourgimmick/.

Comments

  1. This Raw was awful but on the bright side, Bryan and Brock were awesome. And Reigns looked better than he has in months.

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  2. Anyone else have the feeling the title match is going on last on Sunday?

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  3. Another bad RAW to add to the hundreds that have proceeded it.

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  4. I was off today so I actually got to watch it in real time this week. Hoooooooow does anyone do such a thing? You are all batshit insane.

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  5. Only watched the highlights - but Brock looked great at the end of the show. They've actually done a nice job of building that match.


    As for The Ascension - I'll wait until Sunday to see if they're burying them or actually going somewhere with this.


    As for Barrett vs Ambrose - putting each of them over a midcarder would have been far more sensible than jobbing the IC champ again.

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  6. They're not going anywhere with this. I don't care how bad Ascension beats the Outlaws, they're toast.

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  7. Would it have been better for Kane to just run in rather than Bryan take the pin?

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  8. So the Rumble looks like this:


    Lesnar Vs Rollins Vs Cena
    Royal Rumble
    Usos Vs Miz & Mizdow
    Paige & Natalia Vs Bellas
    NAO Vs Ascension


    Guess you can throw in 3 crappy tag matches with that main and the Rumble. Still, no singles matches? Has that ever happened before?

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  9. Kane costing Bryan the win isn't the problem. The problem is they would never book Cena like that and that is what pisses people off and leads them to rally around Bryan.

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  10. Not sure what was worse-This or tonight's Celebrity Apprentice

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  11. Wasn't WM 2000 no single matches?

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  12. Hmm looks like Kat faced Terri Runnels, if you can call that match

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  13. The announce team seemed to call it just fine.

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  14. Good job Cena got those guys their jobs back. They were just about to plan their rebellious invasion of WWE events to show that they're not a bunch of spineless wimps. Just as soon as they'd finished writing strongly-worded complaint emails. And the household chores.

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  15. WM 2000 is the weirdest show. It's sandwiched between Rumble/No Way Out and Backlash/Judgment Day - and all four of those are BRILLIANT! Yet they messed up the biggest show of the year. Strange.

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  16. Slow moving show last night. Hopefully the Ascension match at RR is just a further opportunity to bury them dead. Have the Young Stallions, or maybe paraplegic Kamala kick their asses hard.

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  17. I'm hoping The Iron Sheik will fuck them in the ass and make them hum-bell

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  18. WM 2000 wasn't as bad as people remembered. It had the first unofficial TLC match and it was awesome. I also really like the 3 way IC-Euro match.

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  19. And that right there is what they really think of Bryan. I think Cena, Reigns, Orton, and Rollins will all have to die in the same plane crash for DB to ever be the focus of the company again.

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  20. If Brock was a face then the way he ended the show last night would have been amazing booking (two useless sacks of potatoes get wiped out, the heel you pay to see get his comeuppance sneaks away, top face looks fearless)...however Brock is not a face so the booking is strange at best.

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  21. No colored piping on his outfit was the reason. Also no talky more punchy.

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  22. The Main Event was good too, people just dismiss it for the McMahon's in every corner, Foley being out of shape (and retired), and HHH winning. The actual in ring action was *** - **** especially once it was Rock vs HHH.

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  23. Those pussies didn't even win their own jobs back. I'd be ashamed to return if I was them.

    "No John, we gotta do this for ourselves" said none of these losers.

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  24. Sting being in a WWE arena is still super cool, but please - keep the colors he wears just black and white.



    The red shirt and red shoulder pads on his coat looked ridiculous.

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  25. The Ghost of Matt_INDEED!!!January 20, 2015 at 6:43 AM

    All of this sounds not very good.

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  26. Yeah, made me think he went to Bret Hart for fashion tips.

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  27. actually Ziggler said something like that on twitter

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  28. Royal Rumbles 2007 and 2008 are some fun little shows man.

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  29. Big man on twitter. Scared man in real life. Typical.

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  30. He already went to Bret for the Scorpion Deathlock.

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  31. Celebrity Apprentice was GOD AWFUL and I'm a fan. Super disappointing stuff. I only got through the Shawn Johnson episode. Still have another to watch today. Good lordy, this season has not been good.

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  32. Every time the WWE do their Martin Luther King day video packages, I wonder when we're going to have an African American WWE Champion for the FIRST time...

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  33. I think, given he's probably vanishing shortly after the Rumble (at least until WM) they're probably positioning him as a tweener until they decide which "legend" they want him fighting at WM - HHH, The Rock, Taker, etc.

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  34. This. A thousand times this.

    Crowds still pop for the guy, there's still time to save him - just go back to what made him popular in the first place. Make him an ass-kicking machine who doesn't say much.

    It's not rocket science.

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  35. He could be de facto face on Sunday. If I was in Philly I'd be 100% behind Lesnar. He's been killer from Rumble 2014 onwards. I certainly wouldn't be cheering for the 38 year old, jorts-wearing man-child.

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  36. if Obama is an African American president Rock is an African American Wrestler

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  37. Wow. Twitter. What a man!

    Buncha geeks is what they are.

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  38. I rewatched Rumble and Elim Chamber 2014 recently. The guy was so over in those shows. He should have had the best year. Instead the exploding hernia was probably the highlight.

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  39. Could honestly see the crowd firmly behind both Rollins and Brock and booing Cena.

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  40. I think more's made of the Rock being Samoan for the WWE's purposes, though.

    It should have been Ron Simmons, back in the day. Then it should *definitely* have been Booker T. Then there was even a good shout for Mark Henry.

    Not sure who would be in the running nowadays, right enough. Most of the guys on the roster would need a complete repackage first, I reckon.

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  41. Three guys get fired, and not only apparently sit around just hoping to be re-hired, but don't even do anything about it for themselves, they rely entirely on another guy, and the, uh, universe, to take care of their bills.

    Do any of those geeks have kids? They need to do a segment where one of them looks up to Cena and thanks him and says that he's their real Dad now.

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  42. It's so frustrating when they miss the utterly obvious in favour of the ridiculous.

    Having the Ascension built up against jobbers? Fine - makes sense, really.

    Having them single-handedly taken apart by the New Age fuckin' Outlaws? Embarrassing booking. Would have been more forgiveable if the others in the ring had even pretended to wade in with some punches, etc, but nothing.

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  43. Could've been Ahmed Johnson.

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  44. I feel like this doesn't matter much. Booker T was World Champion, Henry was World Champion. WWE acknowledges WCW timelines now so Ron Simmons and Booker T were WCW World Champions as well. The Rock, obviously, as ape says. They never really bring up Samoa in relation to Rock anymore, I think most people in the world just view him as a black actor.

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  45. I was really expecting them to show up Outsiders-style, since they had the nW0 there and everything

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  46. We know we're in for a long night if the NAO beat the Ascension. Not that any of us here are fans of the Ascension, but putting a team well past its prime over a new act would not surprise me in the least.

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  47. I agree to a point - but you and I both know, timelines acknowledged or not, the WCW title will *never* be given the same prestige as the WWE one.

    In relation to the Samoa thing, I'm amazed they've not made more of the family connection with Roman Reigns (or even the Usos, who look more like Rock than their own dad!)

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  48. I only saw the last hour and the only good thing was Brock beating up everyone at the end. The Sting finish was stupid, but I'm just not that excited about Sting anymore anyway. This isn't 2001.

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  49. I don't mind the Ascension, for the simple reason that they're an actual TAG TEAM - ie: they have a shared name, gimmick and look (and moveset), rather than just being two random singles guys chucked together because they're not doing anything else.

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  50. They gave up on the Ascension pretty quick. Would it kill them to try and make them relevant just to add another tag team to the pool?

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  51. Maybe they feel too close a comparison with Rock will make Reigns suffer in comparison. Uh, while they feed him shitty sub-Rock material.

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  52. it's weird though - Rocky Johnson was 5 times the star Peter Maivia was, esp in the northeast. Why they brought him in as Rocky Maivia instead of Rocky Johnson Jr never made sense to me

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  53. This company gives up on most of the NXT acts pretty quick. Rusev is about the only one to get a good run after jumping, right?

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  54. The Shield? The Wyatts? (to a point)

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  55. Yeah, that's fair. I see the Shield as more FCW, but the Wyatts would be a good argument.

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  56. If they thought they sucked, why not repackage them in NXT and try something else with them? I thought that was the whole point of the place.

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  57. Maybe - but it feels unlike them, given that they usually like to shove this sort of thing front and centre. Anyone associated with the Hart family, for example, or the Rhodes, or the Guerreros, the Ortons, or even Charlotte and her father.

    Honestly amazed they don't play up on the legacy of that family being a big wrestling family.

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  58. Maivia and Johnson were a bit before my time, but I take your point.

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  59. YankeesHoganTripleHFanJanuary 20, 2015 at 7:17 AM

    You have to say this for Shawn Michaels. You can tell when he shows up that he's just having fun and not taking himself to seriously.

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  60. Ladies and gentleman... the winner and NEW linear heavyweight champion of the world...Bray Wyatt.

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  61. I liked the report a few weeks back that Vince was mad at the success of NXT. That is remarkably stupid since you want NXT to be good since people have to get the Network to see it.

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  62. Vince probably didn't want a wrestler with "Jr" in the title. Remember, Rey Mysterio is just called "Rey Mysterio" and not "Rey Mysterio, Jr." in WWE

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  63. I hope that Mighty Mouse rumor is not true for his sake.

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  64. Take them away, give them new outfits, and new material, and maybe you'll get something.

    Coming out dressed like that, and constantly name dropping Demolition and the LOD? Bury them hard.



    Even in that case I'm not convinced about these two jabronis, especially the taller one.

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  65. Oh god, me too.

    TBH, if they refuse point blank to ever have a cruiserweight/LHW division again, Neville's best chance would be in a good tag team. He wouldn't need to speak (which removes the "funny accent" issues) and would make a superb hot tag guy, imo.

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  66. The Linear champ is R-Truth! (Had to look it up, thought it was Barrett.)

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  67. I still can't believe they had Bryan eat a pin and are still continuing the Kane bullshit with him. Couldn't they just have had Kane interfere for the DQ? It's not like Wyatt is going to accomplish anything.

    I also can't believe (well, actually, I CAN) that Barrett is jobbing to everyone now that he has the IC title back.

    And I REALLY can't believe Ambrose got a clean win last night.

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  68. I would guess that the whole point of the name dropping was to set up last night

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  69. Maybe, but Rocky Johnson was pretty much a WWF guy for the majority of his prime

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  70. That or Hulu+


    For only $8 a month...

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  71. And is there any good reason why he isn't carrying around his baseball ball?

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  72. Man, they really pulled the plug on the Ascension in a hurry. That's actually a good thing, I think. Those two were WAY out of their league.

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  73. pfft, Brock. Seth Rollins or gtfo!

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  74. He also has the look of a guy who has a happy and content life outside of wrestling; he's one of the lucky ones.

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  75. Turns out when your gimmick is ripping off classic better tag teams most people in the audience don't remember anyway and have the announce team bury you by saying exactly that you don't get over. Funny that.

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  76. He's a pair of Stunner Shades from being Michael Jackson. That coat was just...yeesh.

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  77. >It's hard to call Rusev "unstoppable" when he keeps wrestling fluff and frustratingly gets over at the expense of guys like Ambrose.


    Rusev is awesome. One of the best things in the company right now

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  78. And, yet, I don't get why. It's always the same. He comes out with Lana, she yacks for 5 minutes. Rusev says things in broken English. Then he squashes a jobber we see once a month if we're lucky.

    He has potential but I just think Creative has no idea what to do with him. Every single "angle" they fix him with dies in four seconds.

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  79. The Ascension is like LOD without the workout regimen.

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  80. Lana rarely yaks anymore, either. It's a shame because I was finally getting into Rusev late summer. He has great psychology and blossomed into a decent worker. But, since winning the damn jobber belt, plop. He's been nothing for about 3 months now.

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  81. There's only so much mileage you can get out of his current gimmick, which is one of the issues.

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  82. Indeed, which is why I think the inevitable Lana turn has to be coming soon. They've been trying to get Rusev to speak more and more. Or, Cena/Reigns beats Rusev and then he becomes a comedy jobber while Lana goes in the divas division, which is what I'm hoping for.

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  83. Wow, this show just sounds like death. I know a lot of people are going nuts for it, but the main event with John Cena once again beating the odds while Sting comes out to mess with the evil group running the show is just too much nostalgia for me.

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  84. He seems like he has a ton of potential. But the WWE seemingly doesn't know what to do with young guys with potential. It's very frustrating.

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  85. Hey, it's worked before. Trish Stratus was a manager for "going nowhere fast" tag team Test N Albert before she became a legendary Women's wrestler. I've never seen Lana wrestle, but if Trish can mature into one of the better workers they've ever had, Lana can do it, too.

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  86. To be fair, there's really not a league for them to be out of, anymore. Trotting out the dinosaurs last night only reinforced that.

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  87. Could have been the start of revitalizing the Tag division...but nope. Sacrifice them to the whims of a senile old man and a bunch of fucking dinosaurs.

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  88. EASILY. He could have had a nice power/big man feud with Vader too. It was right there.

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  89. Brock beating up everyone...but being totally cowed by the Mooster of the Universe, the Head Bovine of Creative, Stephanie McMahon.


    Fuck Idiot Tits and Triple Poochie for putting themselves over at the expense of a better product. As business people, they of all people should know better.

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  90. Is that the show where Kat whipped off her top?

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  91. You're assuming they beat the Outlaws, right?

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  92. They would never book Cena like this....they would never book HHH like this...you nailed it. They don't treat him like a star, despite the fact that WE want him to be one. But fuck US, right?

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  93. Damn completely forgot about that... just looked it up and it was at Armageddon

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  94. He might've gotten a run with the belt if he could've avoided hurting his opponent or himself seemingly every time he stepped into the ring.

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  95. "Leave the show!"
    "Okay."


    "Come back to the show!"
    "Okay."

    FUCK YEAH!

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  96. When he was reinventing himself for his match against Jarrett and he came out looking like he just tried to stitch his early 90's stuff into his late 90's stuff. At least he didn't come out imitating Heath Ledger.

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  97. We be the same page, brother.


    Sigh.

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  98. Woo-hoo! Nothing matters anymore ever!

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  99. Did Bret and Sting ever feud over the Sharpshooter/Scoprion Deathlock in WCW? Yeah, it's cliche as hell, but seems like an obvious starting point for an angle.

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  100. I'm glad that HHH's friends buried the newest tag team in the company. Obviously doing the opposite would achieve nothing and help nobody.

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  101. And Rusev just beat R-Truth...so...

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  102. But "referencing Demolition and the LOD" was not what The Ascension was in NXT. That's some stuff that Vince/Dunn/someone saddled them with when they joined the main roster. So, they wrestlers are being punished with a quick burial for not getting a bullshit idea over?

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  103. That whole final 5 minutes was cool to watch, but MAN you had to sit through a lotta horseshit to get there.

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  104. Over the IC champ no less.

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  105. Ah fuck. Cena becomes Linear Champ at Mania?

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  106. Hate to be that guy but Sting used it first.

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  107. I wince every single time they talk. Their promos would have flown in the early 90's. These days, not so much.

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  108. So basically the Ascension were brought up to get demolished on the "RAW Reunion." Got it.

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  109. Trivia: When was the last time Sting, Hogan, Hall, Nash, Waltman, Flair, and Booker T all appeared on the same show?

    GO!

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  110. Who'da thought that 15 years ago?

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  111. Two things, I do not want to see the entirety of the clique yuking it up on tv on 2015...much less when that's a pay day that coupld probably have saved a couple jobs elsewhere in the WWE, but seriously wtf I hated the ascension even in nxt but that's what they do with young talent it's just marginalizing nxt and the product as a whole. They basically did the same heat segment twice with all the legends. Eventually nostalgia where's off and people will see crap for crap

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  112. They had a short but heated feud in the fall of 98. Halloween Havoc 98 was the blowoff.

    And yes, Sting used it before Bret.

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  113. And the big show, I'm thinking 96 WCW ppv

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  114. Waltman was gone from WCW by the end of 97. It would have had to be October or November of that year.

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  115. And his facials in the ring and during segments is on point. He was phenomenal in the survivor series match for just that reason. Definitely one of the better actors. I could even see him as an Angle-wrestling machine style face. Maybe go somewhere with the Lana love interest hinted at a week back, begin a feud with a guy like cesaro or anyone young who needs some heat, then have Lana drop Rusev to turn him face and set up another feud while transferring Lanas heat to an up and coming heel. Right now each character just exists in their own world or a few of their marked "friends", they need more things that overlap and matter in between storylines, feuds and angles. There are trying that with isolated mixtures of total divas and www programming but seriously backstage chemistry should ooze through in intertwining plot lines.

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  116. After watching the clique episode of mnw I think being apart of that close group of friends, his commitments to them and therein his job really took a number on him. He tried to carry the load for his boys but stress, drugs and bumps were just too much for him. I'm sure he felt like he had to be there and truly wanted to but all of that while working for the wwe and having 15 minute matches every night is quite impossible. As fun as his glory years might have been it saved his life or at least his sanity to go away from wrestling and get his life together. It's truly an admirable and inspiring story.

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  117. That would have been too shocking for Vince's heart to bear witness too, even if he came up with or approved the angle he's so senile he would forget by the 3rd hour of raw what was supposed to happen...then he would order for six months of Ziggler/Big Show feuds for Dolphs aggressive assault on vkms ring finger

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  118. Is that because he is robo cop?

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  119. That can be you if you train for years to become an ex Olympic gold medalist! To have a senile old orange faced muppet tell you you're doing a bad job running pretend business ventures

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  120. I would rather be watching Wrestlekingdom 9...in one show they convinced me they have an all around better product than anything wwe has done since maybe 2012 if I'm being generous. Best show I've watched in years and made me a mark again. And God did WWE miss the fucking ball on striker on commentary. Considering the quality of his work since then he would only be raising the bar with wwe.

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  121. His Dad was African and his Mother was American? What else do you need? (For Pres Obama.)

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  122. The fact that Sting can still get an arena to mark out 15 years after wrestling for a relevant company is truly amazing.

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  123. But...it's THE VIGILANTE Sting.


    Huh? Huh?

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