BRM Reviews the 5/20/2019 Raw (huh)

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- didn’t like it
Brock’s music hits, and we are treated to Michael Cole saying “here comes The Beast! Or should I say ‘The Beast in the Bank?’” No, Cole, you should not say that. Not ever. Not even if Hank McCoy is in front of you in line for the teller.
Brock is dancing while holding the MITB briefcase up to his ear like a boombox. That made me giggle... but I wonder what percentage of the crowd has no idea what Brock is doing.

Oh dear Lord, Heyman just said “Beast in the Bank,” too.

Heyman seems to be under the impression that Brock can challenge either Rollins or Kofi, but according to all of the advertising for MITB (as well the way every MITB has been done since the brand split), you can only challenge the champion on your own show. You’d think that Heyman, being Brock’s lawyer, would have known that.

Seth came out and started to give a speech that I quite frankly found arrogant and obnoxious. What, exactly, am I supposed to find so “inspiring” about Seth Rollins? He’s just a dude with a catchphrase. He has had no real story to him and has no real character other than being a generic babyface. He claims that he has been a “fighting champion” unlike Brock, but he has only defended his title twice in the six weeks since he won it. Compare that to the other guy who we are told is a “fighting champion,” Kofi Kingston, who is now up to four title defenses in six weeks. He also claims to have gotten rid of/gotten the title away from Brock, but even that turned out to have been only temporary because six weeks later Brock has what the announcers have spent the past month telling us is an almost certain title victory, and when he did beat Brock, he couldn’t even do it cleanly. So what the hell has Seth Rollins done that I should find “inspiring?”
Heyman taunts Rollins about having to watch his girlfriend main event the show that he always dreamed of main eventing, which gets Seth upset. This was not a good look for Seth. He should be happy for his girlfriend’s success, not jealous of it, and especially because Seth himself has already main evented WrestleMania (in 2015).
Rollins gets in Brock’s face and calling him a “gutless coward!” (not a “f*cking coward, which I had initially thought I heard) and Brock shoves him back and things get tense, but Heyman calms Brock down instead starts to talk about Brock maybe deciding to challenge Kofi instead. This brings out Kofi Kingston, who has been invited to Raw via the Wildcard Rule yet again. If I’m Andrade or Balor or Rusev or Nakamura, or anyone else who isn’t Roman, Kofi, Elias, or Bryan, I’m starting to get a little annoyed at the McMahons for always inviting the same people.
When Kofi skipped out, the first thing any of the announcers said was Graves, in his version of the clearly phony excited voice, saying “Wildcard Rule in effect!” They seem to have decided that this “in effect” phrasing is the one they are going to use, which is painful to hear because it’s barely even English. It’s just not how people talk about these concepts, and especially in a sports setting. Never have I heard Vin Scully tell me that the “three strike rule is in effect.” It’s almost become an unintentional catchphrase for the announcers a la Mike Tenay’s “TO THE BACK!” and just like that phrase has come to symbolize Russo’s “crash TV” BS style damaging the TNA product by never giving things time to sink in, I hope that “Wildcard Rule in effect” becomes a phrase that similarly embodies WWE’s obsession with only giving us buzzword generalities while the actual events of their show confound any attempt to find logic in it because the general idea winds up being portrayed as working in completely contradictory ways from segment to segment. WWE needs to learn that they would be much better served by coming up with a brief two-sentence explanation of the rule to give the audience in situations like this than just shouting “Wildcard Rule in effect!” it’s more helpful for new fans, makes the concepts feel like they have some actual thought behind them, and would actually sound like real English, all of which would be a vast improvement from what we currently get.
As Kofi came down the ramp Cole told Corey Graves specifically (“Corey, this is one of the interesting things about this Wildcard Rule stipulation”) that due to the Wildcard Rule, the MITB contract holder can now challenge for either brand’s top title. Why does Cole feel the need to tell Graves this? Shouldn’t Graves already know? You’d think that if they made a major rules change to something like MITB, they’d tell all of the commentators, right? Cole should be addressing this explanation to the people who don’t know this yet, which would be us the fans. This is yet another element of the way the announcers are produced that hurts the product. The entire purpose of the announcers, both in kayfabe and outside of it, is to get information to the fans, so why are you having Cole do this by relaying the information to someone who should already know it instead of delivering it directly to us?
This is also information that should have been given to us last night, before the MITB matches, rather than tonight. “How does the Wildcard Rule effect MITB?” is a question many people thought of on their own, so WWE should have had an answer for it ready by the PPV even if they weren’t going to try to make it relevant tonight, but to have Cole not inform us of this until Kofi comes out, after Heyman had been talking about Brock being able to challenge Kofi, served no purpose leaving people baffled when Heyman was talking about Brock being allowed to do something we had been put under the impression was not allowed. There was no reason not to inform us of this change earlier, and some damn good reason in favor of doing so, but WWE did it the stupid way because WWE doesn’t think.

Cole told us that this “through everything into disarray.” I’m not sure if he is talking about this specific change somehow throwing the MITB concept into disarray (which it clearly didn’t, as it only forced one change, which seems both intuitive and easy to understand) or the Wildcard Rule as a whole, in which case I also have to doubt Cole’s claim. The shows don’t feel any more chaotic than they did before. Just because more people can show up does not make something more disorderly. More TV time for AJ, Roman, Kofi, Sami, and the Usos, has just meant less TV time for others, like Heavy Machinery, Cedric Alexander, and Cesaro.

Kofi came out and the first thing he did was shout “WIIIIILLLLD CAAAAARRRRD!” very loudly. Now I hope Brock cashes in on him. Kofi and came and said that he needed to defend his title against the very best WWE has to offer in order to cement his legacy, so he wants Brock to challenge him. Paul Heyman then pointed out that both world champions were begging Brock to let them be the one to wrestle him, which made both Kofi and Seth as well as the titles they hold, look like much lesser stars than Brock.
Heyman then said that he had “inside word” that neither Kofi nor Seth were done for tonight. You mean the two world champions- including one who was specially invited to appear on tonight’s show- each actually had something booked for them for tonight (remember that their appearances in this segment were unscheduled)? That’s not “inside word” so much as common sense. He threatens that Brock might cash in on one of them later. Then Brock and Heyman left, and Cole said “We don’t know in what capacity Seth and Kofi are going to be in action.” Why not? Why the hell would WWE not tell the announcers what they have planned for two of the biggest stars in the company?

MICK FOLEY SHOWS UP- He is greeted by jobbers, two of whom happen to be the Raw Tag Team Champions.

SAMI ZAYN COMPLAINS TO LASHLEY ABOUT HAVING TO WRESTLE BRAUN STROWMAN TONIGHT- meh
He says that he knows Lashley has a match against Braun “coming up in a couple of weeks.” That’s weird phrasing. Normally they’d name-drop the show while doing this sort of thing. Also, I love how they want us to know that Lashley has a match with Braun in a few weeks, but won’t tell us what Seth and Kofi are booked in tonight. Anyway, Sami tries to get Lashley to help him against Braun tonight but Lashley won’t do it.

TRIPLE H, KOFI, AND ROLLINS BACKSTAGE- terrible, and not just because we were told Baron Corbin would be in the main event.
Kofi and Rollins walk up to Hunter and Rollins’ asks “what’s this about us not being done for the night?” This exact phrase was also used by Kofi while he and Seth were chatting before they bumped into Hunter. This means that they both assumed that there was absolutely nothing scheduled for them at all!
Major props to Hunter for throwing in the line that they “ran out there before” he could tell them about their match for tonight. At least that closes the logic hole of the wrestlers themselves being booked in a match without informed about it.
Hunter told them that they would team up to face Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin in the main event. This show has Drew McIntyre, the Revival, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Cesaro, Cedric Alexander, Ricochet, Bobby Roode, Becky Lynch, Nattie Neidhart, the Usos, and Sami Zayn, plus access to anyone from Smackdown... but we’ve to have f*cking Baron Corbin in the main event every week.

We got a commercial telling us, in exactly these words, that “WWE Super Showdown, live from Jeddah, will be as good as or exceed WrestleMania.” I’m not sure if this is their desperate effort to get people to not skip the show or if it’s something the prince is paying them to say to make himself feel good about his show.

SAMI ZAYN vs. BRAUN STROWMAN- no rating, bad segment.
Because I’m in a nit-picky mood, I will point out that Michael Cole told us that “Sami Zayn suffered a rib injury- among other issues- last night when he was taken to a hospital after being assaulted before the Money in the Bank contract ladder match,” which means that Sami was actually injured while being taken to the hospital rather than being injured by the assault. Either way, though, this means we’re getting an injured Sami Zayn against Braun Strowman, just so we can stack the deck against the heel. That sounds counterproductive.
We cut away from Sami’s entrance for several seconds of a close-up of Braun’s face, staring into the camera.
When the match finally started (after a commercial, plus the Hunter segment), Sami ran away. This was done to set up Braun having a backstage stare-down with Lashley to build up their match at Super Showdown. It was dumb and forced. Sami used it as a distraction and got to land one punch on Braun before Braun began to beat him up again. They ran back out to the ring and Braun obliterated Sami. This was a completely pointless squash that did nothing for Braun and only made Sami look bad.


CHARLY CARUSO INTERVIEWS LARS SULLIVAN IN THE RING- okay segment
If you’ve only got a limited number of wildcard spots on the show, why would you take the chance of completely wasting one by booking Lars Sullivan in an interview segment when you just tried that on SD and the result was the interviewer running away scared before she ask a single question? Sure, Charly is a more experienced interviewer than Sarah Schreiber, but there is no reason you couldn’t have just had Charly do this interview on Smackdown.
And while I’m on the subject, I don’t understand why they are having the interviewers be so afraid of Lars. He really hasn’t done anything different than most other heels we’ve seen. He has never laid his hands on an announcer, or even any other woman, despite having ample opportunity to do so with Carmella a few weeks ago. Don’t get me wrong: I like the idea of the ring announcers treating a monster heel like someone who is actually scary. The problem is that them suddenly deciding to do it now with Lars Sullivan doesn’t track with their past behavior around other scary, vicious heels. The least they could have done was have Lars beat up Mike Rome for some reason or another to establish that he has no issue hitting non-wrestlers.
Charly pitches to a video package of Lars beating people up, then asks him what his goals are. This segment was specifically promoted as “hear Lars Sullivan talk for the first time in WWE!” so of course before Lars can speak, Lucha House Party interrupt him, because even when it’s something somple and basic, WWE has to bait-and-switch us.
So Lucha Houser Party come out, and both Graves and Rene completely bury them as having non chance and being morons for even trying. They surround the ring, then attack him in groups rather than one at a time, so at least they’ve learned some tactics between last night and tonight. Lars still won the fight, but Lucha House Party were at least allowed to get enough offense in on him to look semi-respectable, and were able to escape instead of ending the segment laid out.

RICOCHET vs. CESARO- 5.5/10
This match was set up earlier in a segment where Cesaro made fun of Ricochet for being hurt by taking a big bump in MITB. He used the term “bubble-wrap generation.” Can we please have matches based on personal issues rather than Vince getting digs in at Millennials?
The match went a little bit less than seven minutes, half of which was during a commercial, and they also cut away to an in-set commercial for a movie during the match. The story was Cesaro working over Ricochet’s back, and Ricochet sold very well. I understand keeping this match short due to that story, but if you’re going to do that, don’t have half of it take place during a commercial!

CHARLY CARUSO INTERVIEW AJ STYLES- AJ cut an AWESOME babyface “I lost fair and square, but that just means I’ll have to work harder next time, and I vow that I will eventually achieve my goal” promo. Then Baron Corbin showed up and they had a perfectly fine segment taking shots back and forth, ending with AJ slapping Corbin and Corbin vowing to make him pay. Unfortunately, this segment seems t clearly be leading to Corbin becoming the #1 contender, so it’s not just “local advertising, card subject to change” filler match anymore; they’re actually going to be giving Baron Corbin a world title shot on PPV.

ROMAN REIGNS & SHANE MCMAHON SEGMENT- boring
Yup, Roman is also here due to the Wildcard Rule yet again. The crowd cheered him a lot. Before he could say anything, Shane interrupted him and cut a promo on his victory over Miz. He said he was now done with Miz and that all of his focus would be on Roman. He then cut the “how dare you attack someone’s father!” hypocritical promo he cut on Roman a month ago to show that nothing has progressed in an entire month.
Because WWE can’t do anything with Roman Reigns without being heavy-handed, Roman’s big line for tonight was to tell the crowd “I don’t know about you, but I hate spoiled rich kids.” Roman suggests that he and Shane fight. Shane teases it, but then stops half way down the ramp. Dumbf*ck Michael Cole fell for this, despite seeing this same thing happen just about every week.
Speaking of things we see all the time, Shane brings out Drew McIntyre, presumably to fight Roman when Shane is done talking. Shane announces that he will face Roman at Super Showdown, and that “the last thing you will be hearing when you wake up from being unconscious” is that Shane has beaten him. The last thing Roman will be hearing when he wakes up? Is Shane going to murder Roman after he wakes up?
Roman says he’ll beat Shane up at Super Showdown. Then Roman’s music played and we curt away without Drew and Roman fighting.

For tomorrow’s Smackdown they are advertising a Bayley promo, Roman vs. Elias (w/Shane), and a “celebration” in honor of Big E’s return.

SARAH SCHREIBER INTERVIEWS SHANE MCMAHON (& DREW MCINTYRE)- meh
Apparently the idea is that Roman will be helping Shane at Super Showdown, because G-d forbid we don’t go right back to a feud that should have blown off at WrestleMania. The Miz showed up to glare at Shane and tell him that they’re not done. Drew says that if Miz has a problem with Shane then he has a problem with him, too. Miz calls Shane out for “having someone else fight your battles for you,” then says he’ll wrestle Drew later on tonight.

THE USOS vs. THE REVIVAL- 7/10
Renee Young rightfully excoriated the Usos for being juvenile losers. We then got an EXCELLENT promo from Scott Dawson that really makes it impossible to see this feud in any other light than the Usos are heels and The Revival are the babyfaces they have wronged who are now going to get their revenge.
The Revival won via pulling the tights in a situation where doing so would probably only help the opponent to kick out, not hinder it. The match was great, but only went thirteen minutes.

ALEXA BLISS! & NIKKI CROSS BACKSTAGE- Alexa tells Nikki off for not winning MITB. Nikki was apologetic for some reason.
Then The Revival showed up, making trumpet noises and celebrating their win. Nikki was absolutely enamored by their noise-making, while Alexa was absolutely appalled at being interrupted, and that only increased when Dawson accidentally bumped into her. They tried to get her to book them on her talk show. Nikki’s reaction to The Revival made this entertaining.

FIREFLY FUNHOUSE CREEPINESS- We are invited to “let him in,” with the “him” in question being Bray’s evil slasher movie villain clown persona.

A MOMENT OF BLISS WITH SPECIAL GUEST BECKY LYNCH- good
Both in the backstage segment and in this one, Alexa was in full ring gear and entrance jacket. The first thing she did in this segment was explain to us that the reason she was wearing this despite not being scheduled for a match was that she didn’t want to take the chance of not having it if her luggage got lost again. This is now the second time in this show where they have thrown in that one little extra line that actually explains something in a way that makes sense. It’s like Hunter took the script after Vince was done and then penciled in lines to make the show make a bit more sense but without Vince noticing.
So is Nikki Cross Alexa’s sidekick now or something? That’s what she seems like.
I loved that Becky looked upset about the fact that she only had one title belt to hold up, and only smiled after the fans chanted her name to show her their support. Alexa asked Becky about losing her belt, but before Becky could respond, the IIconics came out, making an awful high-pitched chirping noise. My feelings at this moment were perfectly summed up by Renee Young, who simply said “my ears are bleeding.”
They made fun of Becky, Becky said she’d beat them up if they kept running their mouths. Then Lacey Evans showed up and claimed responsibility for Becky losing the Smackdown Women’s Title and threatened to kick her ass, too. The heels pointed out that this would be three on one. Nikki Cross quickly volunteered to be Becky’s partner, and when it was pointed out that they were still one short, Becky motioned to Alexa and said “she’ll do.” Alexa objected, noting that she had not volunteered for this, but Becky told her all she had to do was “stand there and look pretty, and let The Man take care of the rest.” That was... quite the line. But if it works for Alexa then who am I to complain? Alexa shrugged off her spiked vest/robe thing, then picked up her coffee cup and walked down to the ring with a wonderful look of “well... okay. Why the f*ck not?” on her face. The heels were painfully annoying in this segment, but Becky basically saved it singlehandedly by being a badass.

LACEY EVANS & THE IICONICS vs. ALEXA BLISS!, NIKKI CROSS, & BECKY LYNCH- 4/10
Alexa wasn’t even standing on the apron. She just stood on the floor, drinking her coffee. Excellent.
Nikki was the babyface in peril. Lacey just left at one point, then Becky pinned Billie Kay with a diving leg drop, so the tag champs job yet again.
This felt like SUCH a waste of potential to me. The set-up with Alexa standing around on the outside and doing something seemed absolutely PERFECT to have her jump in a steal a Becky Lynch pin for the victory, either to set something up between the two of them (even if the concussion rumors are true, you could have the issue simmer in the background in the build to Stomping Grounds and do the match at the July PPV instead).
The other thing they could have tried to do something with but didn’t here (although it doesn’t mean they won’t in the future) is find a way to start building towards an Alexa Bliss! face turn that is facilitated by her odd-couple pairing with Nikki Cross. Nikki dragging Alexa kicking and screaming into babyface-dom seems like a story with a lot of potential.

MICK FOLEY IS GREETED BY MORE JOBBERS BACKSTAGE- Seriously. I think the highest person on the card to be shown saying hello to Mick here was Naomi, who is a very distant #2 female babyface in a division with a very strong babyface champion.

MICK FOLEY UNVEILS WWE NEWEST TITLE- He tell us that they need to “make Monday night’s raw again.” Oh goody. More meaningless platitudes, but this time they run parallel to the escapism that I seek from my entertainment. Mick launched into a speech that set up the announcement he was about to make very well, but at the same time, it was yet another f*cking lecture on what it means to be a champion.
Mick pulls the title out of the bag, and based on the plate, I can only assume that this is the WWE Improper Fraction Championship, which is their latest charity initiative. It will feature Mick Foley going to elementary schools and helping make math cool. Expect to hear a lot more about this during whichever month is National Arithmetic Month.
Okay. It turns out I was wrong as this is going to be the WWE 24/7 Championship. In my defense, the belt does look like it was designed both by and for elementary schoolers. The title is open to anyone, no matter what brand. And will be defended under the 24/7 Rule... but then Mick started to say something about specifically “the third hour of Raw every week.” I’m confused.
The first champion will be determined by Mick putting the belt down in the ring and ordering the bell to be rung to start a race, with the first person to have full possession of the title being crowned the inaugural champion.
Mick ordered the bell to be rung... and the only people who came out were the bottom of the card male wrestlers. Don’t any of the women want this thing? Or any man who already gets TV time on a regular basis? If this title is worth something then shouldn’t Braun Strowman and AJ Styles and Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley and Seth Rollins and Baron Corbin all want it?
Credit where it’s due, the wrestlers actually did a very good job with everything they did here, and they managed to make this segment not feel hokey, which it easily could have. The only nit I have to pick is almost certainly not the fault of the wrestlers themselves, and that is that the way the segment ended (with a big line of guys chasing new champion Bobby Roode to the back) seemed like it was something the cameras should have followed like did for Braun and Zayn earlier, but instead went back to the announcers, who pitched us to a recap of the opening segment. For all we know, the title was changing hands while we were instead being shown promos we’d already seen.
My thoughts on this are VERY mixed. I don’t like comedy titles, and I am against the idea of them adding any more titles of any sort, as they already have far too many (at least if they’re going to run dual-branded PPVs every month). The “open to all brands” gimmick does not excite me at all because 1) there still isn’t much opportunity for interaction between people on separate brands outside of PPVs as I doubt they’ll use their precious Wildcard Rule spots to have undercard dorks come over for a segment about a comedy title, and 2) they just recently added titles that are open to people on any show and haven’t done sh*t with the belts.
And, most importantly, this will not address any of the structural issues that plague the WWE product. It is a distraction, both for fans and for Creative, and when Vince moves on to something new in six weeks, this will wind up being just another thing with no direction that clogs up the shows.

All of that being said, based on what we saw in this one segment, while this is nothing but distraction that will likely wind up impeding progress, it is probably going to be one I enjoy on a weekly basis, as the comedy this lends itself to tends to be the comedy I enjoy in my pro wrestling (I giggled when Roode rolled Titus up to win the title, even though I saw the roll-up coming a mile away). While I don’t think this title is a good idea, I do think it will make the show more tolerable for me, soon a personal level, it’s something of a win.

ROBERT ROODE HIDES BACKSTAGE- All of the wrestlers chasing him run past him... but there was no referee with them, so why are they even bothering right now?

THE MIZ vs. DREW MCINTYRE (w/Shane McMahon)- 6.5/10
Drew won with help from Shane. Drew really should be beating Miz cleanly. Despite Shane’s constant interference, Roman Reigns didn’t come out to put a stop to this. Maybe Shane “banned him from the building” because he “didn’t invite him” like he did to Miz on Smackdown.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- or not
The heels beat Miz up and Shane sets up for a Coast 2 Coast but Roman Reigns now comes out to make the save. First of all, where were you before, Roman? Secondly, why didn’t Shane bar Roman from the building like he did to Miz on Smackdown?

THE 24/7 TITLE CHASE RUNS PAST BOBBY LASHLEY & BARON CORBIN- Okay... the lack of a referee with them is starting to annoy me. I figure we’re going to be getting a lot of segments like this every week. I did like the fact that they used it as an excuse to at least show us Lashley and Corbin strategizing for their main event. I didn’t like the fact that they just let Roode run right past him like they didn’t give a sh*t about the championship.
Also, when did Roode get the title belt back? He never picked it up after winning it because he was running away from the mob. Did he sneak back out to ringside during a commercial and pick it up or something?

CHARLY CARUSO INTERVIEWS SETH ROLLINS & KOFI KINGSTON- fine
Everything they said was fine babyface material. Rollins was very emphatic that “no human that has ever existed in all of space and time” has ever liked Baron Corbin. Can we please get an angle where Corbin threatens to sue Seth for slander and brings out his mother to prove Seth wrong?

US TITLE STUFF RECAP- Rey suffered a separated shoulder from Joe’s attack. Then Cole pitched to a promo by Joe. Cole pitched to this by saying “we caught up with Samoa Joe,” but this was clearly Joe cutting a selfie promo, which contradicts that statement. I know that’s a nit-pick, but it’s the sort of thing that could have been easily avoided by just doing a normal interview, or by having someone watch the promo during the previous commercial break and make a note to Cole about how to introduce the promo.

SAMOA JOE PROMO- GREAT!
Basically, he said that he clearly didn’t get pinned at the PPV and that he is “giving... no, GIFTING” Rey the chance to do the right thing and be the man he wants his son to grow up to be and return the title, or else Joe himself will have to set an example. Is there anyone in all of pro wrestling this year who has even been in the same stratosphere as Joe in terms of promos?

We’ll find out the future of the US Title next week.

BOBBY ROODE TRIES TO ESCAPE FROM THE ARENA- fine
Your fourth Wildcard Rule crosser-over this week is... R-Truth, who apparently wasn’t booked in any segment all night and didn’t do anything on his own initiative, either. Roode asks Truth to hide him, so Truth lets Roode climb into the trunk of his car. The other wrestlers come by, and Truth sends them in the wrong direction. He then offers Roode a ride which Roode is grateful for, so Truth sends Roode to the passenger side of the car and Roode opens the door... and there is a referee sitting there. Truth them slammed Roode into the car and pinned him to win the title, then drive away. So this was all a clever plan that R-Truth concocted. I can accept that, although it would have been nice if he had an actual reason to show up.

NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH: Kofi Kingston & Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin & Bobby Lashley- 4.5/10
This match was made a no DQs match out of nowhere. Cole pointed out that this smells like a “McMahon Family” set-up, with Hunter and Shane being the obvious culprits. The problem with this is that it really doesn’t make any sense for the McMahons to be conspiring with Brock. We’re supposed to believe the babyfaces and the announcers when they tell us how terrible it would be for Brock to be an absentee champion because it’s bad for the show, so why would the McMahons be facilitating a return to this detrimental situation?
The match was very short, with Kofi pinning Corbin but immediately getting attacked by Lashley. The babyfaces won the post-match brawl, but then Brock came out for the Cash-In Tease No One Ever Buys™. Heyman finally convinced Brock to wait until next week to announce who he was going to cash in on. Then, in a moment of either unbelievable tone-deafness or unbelievable arrogance, they actually had Michael Cole point out how annoying it was for someone to implicitly promise that something would happen within the next three hours only to come out at the end and then tell you you’ll have to wait until next week instead.
Yes, Cole, that is EXTREMELY annoying. The problem is that everyone knows that it’s not Brock we should be annoyed at!


This wasn’t a good show from WWE, but it did have some glimmers of hope for the future. One thing I’m unclear on, though, is whether or no Brock Lesnar was actually the one who attacked Sami Zayn. If he’s not, they really should have played that up more, as if Brock didn’t do it and Braun didn’t do it then we have a mystery assailant on our hands. It should be noted that they actually did keep to established rules of the Wildcard Rule gimmick this time. I’m already well sick of that rule, though, and assume we’ll be seeing at least Miz and the Usos on SD tomorrow, and when all of the kayfabe hype is about “who is going to show up this week?” and the answer always winds up being the same, the effectiveness of the hype is drastically reduced.

[cero2k]

as point out by Alvarez, but WWE finally, after so many years, found a way to book a reverse battle royal for the 24/7 title

[KILLdozer]

That wasn't...the worst RAW in a while. Would've have been better if they didn't do the "Baron Corbin in the main event" thing.

I've had this strange thought that were actually going to see some kind of Jinder Mahal 2.0 with him WINNING A WORLD TITLE. I feel like someone in WWE would think that's golden heel heat...

[Bob-O]

Paul Heyman then pointed out that both world champions were begging Brock to let them be the one to wrestle him, which made both Kofi and Seth as well as the titles they hold, look like much lesser stars than Brock.

They are, though. By like, a lot.

I honestly don't have a problem with any of this. Call that stuff out! Make those two step up! Heyman and Lesnar were AWESOME here, and it shows me that there's still a reasonable bar set. I freakin' love Troll Lesnar and his Boom Box Beastcase - dude don't give a f*ck about nothin, I love Troll Heyman calling out Rollins for sitting around seven hours waiting for his girlfriend to get off of work, and the Chumpions had nothin. They're not even close to that level, and it'd be MORE hurtful for WWE to pretend that they are.

I like Brock with MITB, he can take his briefcase, he can go away for as long as he wants without disrupting the show, come back and cash in when they get something figured out to try and match him. Hate on it all y'all want, I think this is a good long term call by WWE.

FIREFLY FUNHOUSE CREEPINESS- We are invited to “let him in,” with the “him” in question being Bray’s evil slasher movie villain clown persona.

I'm guessing Firefly Funhouse as we know it now has run it's course...

That wasn't...the worst RAW in a while. Would've have been better if they didn't do the "Baron Corbin in the main event" thing.

I've had this strange thought that were actually going to see some kind of Jinder Mahal 2.0 with him WINNING A WORLD TITLE. I feel like someone in WWE would think that's golden heel heat...

I'll be right there with the best of 'em on the front lines of Corbin bashing, but I'll give credit where credit is due. Money In The Bank is the best outing I've seen of his to date. The dude was not bad at all in his role at all. I still want him to go away, but I'll admit he's improving.

[KILLdozer]

Paul Heyman then pointed out that both world champions were begging Brock to let them be the one to wrestle him, which made both Kofi and Seth as well as the titles they hold, look like much lesser stars than Brock.

They are, though. By like, a lot.

I honestly don't have a problem with any of this. Call that stuff out! Make those two step up! Heyman and Lesnar were AWESOME here, and it shows me that there's still a reasonable bar set. I freakin' love Troll Lesnar and his Boom Box Beastcase - dude don't give a f*ck about nothin, I love Troll Heyman calling out Rollins for sitting around seven hours waiting for his girlfriend to get off of work, and the Chumpions had nothin. They're not even close to that level, and it'd be MORE hurtful for WWE to pretend that they are.

I like Brock with MITB, he can take his briefcase, he can go away for as long as he wants without disrupting the show, come back and cash in when they get something figured out to try and match him. Hate on it all y'all want, I think this is a good long term call by WWE.

FIREFLY FUNHOUSE CREEPINESS- We are invited to “let him in,” with the “him” in question being Bray’s evil slasher movie villain clown persona.

I'm guessing Firefly Funhouse as we know it now has run it's course...

That wasn't...the worst RAW in a while. Would've have been better if they didn't do the "Baron Corbin in the main event" thing.

I've had this strange thought that were actually going to see some kind of Jinder Mahal 2.0 with him WINNING A WORLD TITLE. I feel like someone in WWE would think that's golden heel heat...

I'll be right there with the best of 'em on the front lines of Corbin bashing, but I'll give credit where credit is due. Money In The Bank is the best outing I've seen of his to date. The dude was not bad at all in his role at all. I still want him to go away, but I'll admit he's improving.

Just WTF is this "Baron Corbin is a top heel star" push we're constantly seeing ? Then it's constantly "Awh yeah Renee look how wonderful Baron Corbin is!", From Graves all the time, followed by her VERY poorly done disgusted disbelief statements...and it's just way out the window.

[Big Red Machine]

Paul Heyman then pointed out that both world champions were begging Brock to let them be the one to wrestle him, which made both Kofi and Seth as well as the titles they hold, look like much lesser stars than Brock.

They are, though. By like, a lot.

I honestly don't have a problem with any of this. Call that stuff out! Make those two step up! Heyman and Lesnar were AWESOME here, and it shows me that there's still a reasonable bar set. I freakin' love Troll Lesnar and his Boom Box Beastcase - dude don't give a f*ck about nothin, I love Troll Heyman calling out Rollins for sitting around seven hours waiting for his girlfriend to get off of work, and the Chumpions had nothin. They're not even close to that level, and it'd be MORE hurtful for WWE to pretend that they are.

Going out of your way to point it out is completely counterproductive. Just because something is true doesn't mean you should make it obvious.

The whole Rollins "sitting around and waiting for his girlfriend to finish" thing makes no sense as an insult. How does that make him some sort of punk or loser? And it's not even like he was inconveniencing himself by staying because 1) he was probably just hanging around backstage with his buddies, and 2) it's not like he had to go anywhere because the next night's Raw was in the same metro area.

I like Brock with MITB, he can take his briefcase, he can go away for as long as he wants without disrupting the show, come back and cash in when they get something figured out to try and match him. Hate on it all y'all want, I think this is a good long term call by WWE.

What you propose would be a fine idea, but I will be shocked if that is what actually happens. You are forgetting the possibility of this being used to give Brock a title shot on the Saudi show (which is almost certainly exactly what will happen).
I also still maintain that the McMahons facilitating Brock getting MITB this way makes no sense because they know it will almost certainly lead to him taking the title home with him for months at a time, which does nothing but prevent them from using it to draw.

FIREFLY FUNHOUSE CREEPINESS- We are invited to “let him in,” with the “him” in question being Bray’s evil slasher movie villain clown persona.

I'm guessing Firefly Funhouse as we know it now has run it's course...

Well... it had to stop at some point soon anyway. The dude has to wrestle at some point.

[KILLdozer]

You're missing the idea with the "your girlfriend was the main event"...I think it was supposed to be "how dare he talk about his girlfriend like that!".

...

[Big Red Machine]

You're missing the idea with the "your girlfriend was the main event"...I think it was supposed to be "how dare he talk about his girlfriend like that!".

...

Talk abut her like what? Complement her on her great accomplishment?

[KILLdozer]

You're missing the idea with the "your girlfriend was the main event"...I think it was supposed to be "how dare he talk about his girlfriend like that!".

...

Talk abut her like what? Complement her on her great accomplishment?

I took it as some sort of low blow and he was irrate he mentioned her like he did as an attempt to get under his skin. You don't speak of another man's woman like that, BRM.

[Big Red Machine]

You're missing the idea with the "your girlfriend was the main event"...I think it was supposed to be "how dare he talk about his girlfriend like that!".

...

Talk abut her like what? Complement her on her great accomplishment?

I took it as some sort of low blow and he was irrate he mentioned her like he did as an attempt to get under his skin. You don't speak of another man's woman like that, BRM.

So in your world "Jim, I'm very happy your wife won the election" is fighting words?

[Bob-O]

Talk abut her like what? Complement her on her great accomplishment?

I took it as some sort of low blow and he was irrate he mentioned her like he did as an attempt to get under his skin. You don't speak of another man's woman like that, BRM.

So in your world "Jim, I'm very happy your wife won the election" is fighting words?

I'd say more like, "Jim, we know you wanted to be President, how'd it feel being First Lady instead?"

Now, a STAR would have retorted with something like, "I opened the show with YOU, dumbass. Unlike YOU, the Champ is the first one here and the last one to leave EVERY NIGHT, whether it's a Thursday a Monday or 7 hours later on the biggest night of the year... now, you gonna let me beat your ass in 5 minutes again tonight or did Brock fail his physical...?"

But that's not Seth.

[Big Red Machine]

I took it as some sort of low blow and he was irrate he mentioned her like he did as an attempt to get under his skin. You don't speak of another man's woman like that, BRM.

So in your world "Jim, I'm very happy your wife won the election" is fighting words?

I'd say more like, "Jim, we know you wanted to be President, how'd it feel being First Lady instead?"

Now, a STAR would have retorted with something like, "I opened the show with YOU, dumbass. Unlike YOU, the Champ is the first one here and the last one to leave EVERY NIGHT, whether it's a Thursday a Monday or 7 hours later on the biggest night of the year... now, you gonna let me beat your ass in 5 minutes again tonight or did Brock fail his physical...?"

But that's not Seth.

I see your point about the comment, but still... Seth responded by getting in Brock's face? What more did you want?