We’ve got a small child a few rows back holding up a sign that says “HHH is the best.” That’s how you know your babyface/heel dynamics have failed.

OPENING SEGMENT- okay
Vince & Steph out to brag about their complete and total surprise that everyone saw coming. Why brag about it being a surprise if it wasn’t? Who care if it was a surprise or not? You still won, didn’t you?
The fans chant for AJ. The McMahons continue their heel promo putting Hunter over, then bring out the champ himself. Hunter is now back to using “The Game” instead of “Bow Down to the King.”
Hunter cuts a promo in which he puts Roman over but says he “lacks respect.” Hunter says he is okay with Roman beating the sh*t out of him, but if you’re mean to Vince then Hunter must take action. The rest of his promo- the “I don’t need to be WWE Champion: I WANT to be WWE Champion” part was pretty good.
Steph announces that by the end of the night we’ll know who will be in a match at Fast Lane which will determine who will challenge for the WWE World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania.
The crowd chanted for Roman once. I think. It was soft and I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but of all of the likely possibilities I could think of, it did sound most like “Roman Reigns!”

HOLY SH*T WE’RE GETTING AJ VS. JERICHO TONIGHT! I have literally been waiting an ENTIRE DECADE to see this match!

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. KEVIN OWENS- 6.5/10
Owens is STILL selling from the Last Man Standing match! They had a good opener, with Owens going over clean. The announcers stressed the importance of impressing the Authority tonight, so I guess you get put in the title match by impressing the Authority.

JOJO INTERVIEWS ROMAN REIGNS- meh.
Based on things Roman has said in past weeks, he really needs this job, so you’d think he wouldn’t do things that would give them cause to punish him, like showing up late to work.

SOCIAL OUTCASTS PROMO- Heath Slater goes to bother Flo Rida. I hope they get into a fight and are both quickly removed from the building (along with the rest of the Desperation Corporation) so that I don’t have to see any of them anymore.
Bo invites Flo Rida into the ring to face the four “Super Friends,” so Rida does so. No security comes out to stop this fan from jumping the guardrail. This results in a “rap battle” between Bo and Flo… and Bo was actually entertaining.
Mr. Rida, the professional rapper, was horribly boring.
It turns out that the purpose of this rap battle was to set up the Dudley Boys vs. two members of the Sadicalz.

THE DUDLEY BOYS (w/Flo Rida) vs. BO DALLAS & CURTIS AXEL (w/Heath Slater & Adam Rose)- 1.25/10
Stupid Bo actually went out and got special Social Outcasts ring gear made, as if this gimmick will help him get over.
Oh. And they’re now calling Heath Slater “Red Dragon.”

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS AJ STYLES- AJ doesn’t get far before he is interrupted by Jericho.
More importantly… OMFG THE MATCH IS NEXT!

AJ STYLES vs. CHRIS JERICHO- 7.75/10
I’m marking out like… like… like… like BRM watching Daniel Bryan, Kane, and Alexa Bliss team up to win the six-person tag team titles!
They didn’t even give them fourteen minutes, but they still had an awesome match. Do you think they’re going to hold off on the Styles Clash until WrestleMania?
JBL keeps bringing up how Jericho worked for WAR in Japan, and says that AJ has taken a very similar career path, which is completely laughable.
Has Jericho always had those ugly tattoos up his arm or are those new?
They had a great post-match bit, too, which really felt like a stare-down between two megastars.

SASHA BANKS vs. BECKY LYNCH- 5.5/10
Sasha is out here, without Naomi or Tamina in sight! Team B.A.D. has been destroyed and the accursed Divas Revolution is finally dead! HOORAY!
Sasha was about to get the win with the Banks Statement when Charlotte ran in for the DQ and beat them both up, laying Sasha out with Bow to the Queen. This got GREAT heat.

DUMB BACKSTAGE SH*T WITH GOLDUST & TRUTH- Dumb.
Goldust is back to his atrocious 2003 self.

KANE vs. BRAY WYATT (w/the Wyatt Family)- 3.5/10
The crowd reacts to these two stars by chanting “WE WANT TAKER!” They also chant for Randy Savage. Sorry, guys, but I don’t think you’re going to get him.
Strowman chokes Kane out with the World’s Worst Chokehold, then Harper and Rowan give him a double chokeslam… and we didn’t even get a Brock Lesnar appearance out of this.

WHO IS IN THE LIMO- the fans think it’s The Rock… but it’s really The Miz. That was a great bit. Then The Rock showed up. He was a dick to Miz, but also gave Miz the keys to his truck with orders to park it… so I’d be shocked if The Rock doesn’t get the car back in sixty-three pieces.
Then The Rock is a huge asshole to Big Show. Even worse, he is making fun of Big Show for not winning the 2000 Royal Rumble, not giving a sh*t that Big Show had PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE that Rock should have lost.
And now he’s hitting on Lana, who is another man’s fiancée. WHAT A F*CKING ASSHOLE!
And here’s Rusev… hopefully to murder The Rock dead.
Oh. And Rock doesn’t even pay enough attention to the product to know that Rusev and Lana got back together again.
The only enjoyable part of this was Pat Patterson being in the background.
.

So now that The Rock has been a complete and total douchebag to everyone he has come into contact with, they want me to cheer him while he cuts a promo.

ROCK PROMO-
I love how he is trying to make himself part of the attendance record that will be broken when he isn’t even going to be wrestling on the show.
Now Rock is getting interrupted by “Randy Savage!” chants. I giggled.
Now he’s hanging out with the cosplayers. Snore. This Randy Savage cosplayer has way too much hair and too much of a beard. He looks like what Randy Savage would look like if he was a pirate.
New Day interrupted him and they basically gave my feelings on The Rock.
The Rock identifies the New Day’s unicorn horns as “llama penises,” which makes one wonder how Rocky knows so much about llama dicks.
The New Day didn’t want to fight, so Rock made them do so via the Usos.
Could we maybe have given like fifteen of these minutes to Jericho & AJ?
I don’t know about anyone else, but I never want to see The Rock again unless it leads to him wrestling a match.

BRIE BELLA & ALICIA FOX vs. NATALYA & PAIGE- DUD!
Nattie’s toe-tapping while stuck in that submission to try to get the crowd to clap made me giggle.
So short it was pointless and not good, either.

THE MIZ PROMO- as soon as he said he was sick of being interrupted, you knew what was going to happen.

THE MIZ vs. KALISTO- 5/10

ROMAN REIGNS & DEAN AMBROSE vs. THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS (Rusev & Sheamus) (w/Alberto Del Rio & Wade Barrett)- 6/10
This “main event” was never mentioned at all until right before commercial break before it aired. Lana isn’t out here with Rusev even though she was seen backstage earlier.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- the babyfaces break some announce tables to get revenge on the heels for what they did to Roman last night. And HOLY SH*T did that look nasty when Rusev went through that table.
Lots of work on poor Dean’s back. Hot tag to Roman who gets the win soon thereafter. Let’s be honest here: Jericho vs. AJ was the real main event, and should have been the main event.

Also, there is a douchebag in the third row with a sign telling us we should all be Vegan. F*ck off, asshole. This is not the place to preach your beliefs.

STEPH ANNOUNCES THE FAST LANE MAIN EVENT: Roman vs. Dean vs. Lesnar.

A decent show from WWE. I was actually enjoying this for most of the show, and by the end, the stuff I didn’t wasn’t enough to make me say that I didn’t enjoy this show overall.

I'm in the same boat as you with AJ and Jericho. I realized when he came out and said "this is where I belong" that I had been waiting for it since the first time I saw him in TNA. And he was wrestling one of my nostalgic favourites in Chris Jericho (I used to have his pictures and posters everywhere, and even got an atrocious bobble head that I never even took out of the box). I was flipping out that whole match. It was hands down my favourite moment on RAW in months. Maybe years.

Serujuunin wrote:(I used to have his pictures and posters everywhere, and even got an atrocious bobble head that I never even took out of the box).

You should check online. That bobblehead might actually be worth something if it's NRFB.

i didn't like the whole AJ Styles deal. He already feels like another upper midcard guy, he doesn't feel like the same Styles that had a 5* match with Nakamura just 4 weeks ago. AJ vs Jericho was not only a dream match, but it could have easily main evented any show in the world, that could have been the main event of WK11, and the arrogance of WWE just has them doing a random match in the second hour of a random RAW. There is no promotion that someone like AJ couldn't come in and challenge for the title, and here he MAY challenge for the intercontinental title at most for a while

Also, Cole saying "The flamboyant style of AJ Styles" and JBL repeating "But now he's in WWE, the big leagues"

fuck my life, i hate these announcers

cero2k wrote:i didn't like the whole AJ Styles deal. He already feels like another upper midcard guy, he doesn't feel like the same Styles that had a 5* match with Nakamura just 4 weeks ago. AJ vs Jericho was not only a dream match, but it could have easily main evented any show in the world, that could have been the main event of WK11, and the arrogance of WWE just has them doing a random match in the second hour of a random RAW. There is no promotion that someone like AJ couldn't come in and challenge for the title, and here he MAY challenge for the intercontinental title at most for a while

Also, Cole saying "The flamboyant style of AJ Styles" and JBL repeating "But now he's in WWE, the big leagues"

fuck my life, i hate these announcers

The "random match" thing isn't them disrespecting AJ or the idea of AJ vs. Jericho. This match actually got more hype than any other match on the show. That's just WWE's poor booking overall.

As for AJ not challenging for the title:
WWE has made their decision: the main event of WrestleMania 32 will be Triple H defending the WWE World Heavyweight Title against Roman Reigns. That means that anyone getting a title shot between now and then WILL LOSE. Also, WWE clearly sees Roman Reigns as a long-term babyface champion. That means that anyone else getting a title shot after that point WILL LOSE.
Coming in at the top and then losing will not help AJ Styles at all. What they have AJ doing now- putting on great matches where he beats top stars- is the best thing for AJ to be doing. He's a fantastic guy to rebuild the IC Title around. What matters is not whether or not he is challenging for the world title. He if challenges for the world title, he will lose and that won't help him at all. What matters is how he is being presented... and as of now (which, to be fair, is barely more than 36 hours into his tenure with the company), he has been treated like a star and gotten a superstar reaction from the fans.

Also, the finish to AJ vs. Jericho is clearly building to a rematch.

Big Red Machine wrote: The "random match" thing isn't them disrespecting AJ or the idea of AJ vs. Jericho. This match actually got more hype than any other match on the show. That's just WWE's poor booking overall.

As for AJ not challenging for the title:
WWE has made their decision: the main event of WrestleMania 32 will be Triple H defending the WWE World Heavyweight Title against Roman Reigns. That means that anyone getting a title shot between now and then WILL LOSE. Also, WWE clearly sees Roman Reigns as a long-term babyface champion. That means that anyone else getting a title shot after that point WILL LOSE.
Coming in at the top and then losing will not help AJ Styles at all. What they have AJ doing now- putting on great matches where he beats top stars- is the best thing for AJ to be doing. He's a fantastic guy to rebuild the IC Title around. What matters is not whether or not he is challenging for the world title. He if challenges for the world title, he will lose and that won't help him at all. What matters is how he is being presented... and as of now (which, to be fair, is barely more than 36 hours into his tenure with the company), he has been treated like a star and gotten a superstar reaction from the fans.

Also, the finish to AJ vs. Jericho is clearly building to a rematch.

I'm not saying that they're disrespecting AJ at all, I'm saying that AJ doesn't feel that huge anymore, he's just another guy in the roster, he doesn't even feel as huge as Owens when he defeated Cena. he's just another upper midcard guy.

And i'm not saying that he should challenge for the title, because i totally understand that we're months shy from WM, it's more in the sense that AJ could come to any promotion and immediately be the in the top ranks, be THE new top guy. Styles could have been treated like Lesnar or Sting coming in to WWE, or how Joe debuted in NXT, but instead he's pretty much just another guy, kinda like James Storm in NXT was or the returning del Rio, that is the level of star he is being treated as. he gets some wins and it's all fine and dandy, but he's just another guy that 'wanted to come to WWE all his life'. I just see it this way, aside from Sting, AJ is the first person to come to the main roster skipping NXT, keeping his name, in a loooong time, and he's having a match in the second hour of RAW. Right now, AJ is no bigger than Sheamus or Owens right now.

yeah, Jericho vs Styles will have a rematch, that is already dumb, the important one was the first time they were in the ring together, the announcing of AJ vs Jericho by Lillian garcia while they both stare at each other in their corners, it didn't have to be a 5* match, but it should be built and sold like it was going to be, build up anticipation. What makes a second round of a dream match awesome, is that the first was memorable and epic, but this wasn't, it was 15 minutes on RAW, not even Fastlame, RAW! Are they gonna save Styles vs Cena for Smackdown?

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote: The "random match" thing isn't them disrespecting AJ or the idea of AJ vs. Jericho. This match actually got more hype than any other match on the show. That's just WWE's poor booking overall.

As for AJ not challenging for the title:
WWE has made their decision: the main event of WrestleMania 32 will be Triple H defending the WWE World Heavyweight Title against Roman Reigns. That means that anyone getting a title shot between now and then WILL LOSE. Also, WWE clearly sees Roman Reigns as a long-term babyface champion. That means that anyone else getting a title shot after that point WILL LOSE.
Coming in at the top and then losing will not help AJ Styles at all. What they have AJ doing now- putting on great matches where he beats top stars- is the best thing for AJ to be doing. He's a fantastic guy to rebuild the IC Title around. What matters is not whether or not he is challenging for the world title. He if challenges for the world title, he will lose and that won't help him at all. What matters is how he is being presented... and as of now (which, to be fair, is barely more than 36 hours into his tenure with the company), he has been treated like a star and gotten a superstar reaction from the fans.

Also, the finish to AJ vs. Jericho is clearly building to a rematch.

I'm not saying that they're disrespecting AJ at all, I'm saying that AJ doesn't feel that huge anymore, he's just another guy in the roster, he doesn't even feel as huge as Owens when he defeated Cena. he's just another upper midcard guy.

That's because 1) Cena and Owens had segments hyping up their matches, and 2) John Cena is a lot higher up on the totem pole than Chris Jericho.

cero2k wrote: And i'm not saying that he should challenge for the title, because i totally understand that we're months shy from WM, it's more in the sense that AJ could come to any promotion and immediately be the in the top ranks, be THE new top guy. Styles could have been treated like Lesnar or Sting coming in to WWE, or how Joe debuted in NXT, but instead he's pretty much just another guy, kinda like James Storm in NXT was or the returning del Rio, that is the level of star he is being treated as. he gets some wins and it's all fine and dandy, but he's just another guy that 'wanted to come to WWE all his life'. I just see it this way, aside from Sting, AJ is the first person to come to the main roster skipping NXT, keeping his name, in a loooong time, and he's having a match in the second hour of RAW. Right now, AJ is no bigger than Sheamus or Owens right now.

To have him be at that level, he needs an opponent at that level to go with. Hunter is taken, Brock is taken, Cena is injured, Orton is injured, Rollins is injured, AJ vs. Taker isn't happening. Jericho is pretty much the top guy they've got left (Owens and Ambrose haven't quite been booked to the point where feuding with them right when you come in comes across as a major deal).
Could they have made this feel bigger? Yes. But for the purposes of structuring the show the way they felt they needed it- Rock debut in hour 2-3 crossover, Dean & Roman in main event spot so they could be out there when Steph made the announcement), AJ vs. Jericho got the most important spot that was available and it got more hype than anything else on this show.

cero2k wrote: yeah, Jericho vs Styles will have a rematch, that is already dumb, the important one was the first time they were in the ring together, the announcing of AJ vs Jericho by Lillian garcia while they both stare at each other in their corners, it didn't have to be a 5* match, but it should be built and sold like it was going to be, build up anticipation. What makes a second round of a dream match awesome, is that the first was memorable and epic, but this wasn't, it was 15 minutes on RAW, not even Fastlame, RAW! Are they gonna save Styles vs Cena for Smackdown?

I would agree with you if we had had a decisive winner here, but we didn't. AJ won cleanly over a tough opponent, but he got the win via roll-up, and what's more, they once again teased the Styles Clash but didn't hit it. This really felt like the match you use to establish AJ so that you can have a more blow-away match that is built up more as your rematch (with Jericho possibly as a heel).

Big Red Machine wrote: That's because 1) Cena and Owens had segments hyping up their matches, and 2) John Cena is a lot higher up on the totem pole than Chris Jericho.

And they were also properly booked, they didn't just have their first match at RAW, they interacted, they build to a match at a special show and then delivered.

Big Red Machine wrote: To have him be at that level, he needs an opponent at that level to go with. Hunter is taken, Brock is taken, Cena is injured, Orton is injured, Rollins is injured, AJ vs. Taker isn't happening. Jericho is pretty much the top guy they've got left (Owens and Ambrose haven't quite been booked to the point where feuding with them right when you come in comes across as a major deal).
Could they have made this feel bigger? Yes. But for the purposes of structuring the show the way they felt they needed it- Rock debut in hour 2-3 crossover, Dean & Roman in main event spot so they could be out there when Steph made the announcement), AJ vs. Jericho got the most important spot that was available and it got more hype than anything else on this show.

yes and no, he surely isn't getting anywhere if he feuds with the outcasts, but this is AJ styles, he doesn't need to be chasing around the top guys, you can have competent midcard guys want to challenge him, make him out to be the guy that everyone wants to defeat to get in a better position in the company, have guys come out and say that he's just an indie guy and so AJ can prove them wrong. All of this can make AJ look better than what he is right now. Granted it's been 3 days, but the first two steps have already failed.

Big Red Machine wrote: I would agree with you if we had had a decisive winner here, but we didn't. AJ won cleanly over a tough opponent, but he got the win via roll-up, and what's more, they once again teased the Styles Clash but didn't hit it. This really felt like the match you use to establish AJ so that you can have a more blow-away match that is built up more as your rematch (with Jericho possibly as a heel).

i highly disagree, you can only have one first time. You wouldn't put Rock vs Hogan on RAW with a false finish, you wouldn't do Rock vs Cena in smackdown with a roll up. WWE decided to do this dream match between a social outcasts skip and a divas match.


dammit, now i gotta put by booking writing hat. i'll be right back...

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote: That's because 1) Cena and Owens had segments hyping up their matches, and 2) John Cena is a lot higher up on the totem pole than Chris Jericho.

And they were also properly booked, they didn't just have their first match at RAW, they interacted, they build to a match at a special show and then delivered.

We're dealing with AJ Styles here. Do you want him to cut promos for a month? This was the option that played to AJ's strengths the best.

Big Red Machine wrote: To have him be at that level, he needs an opponent at that level to go with. Hunter is taken, Brock is taken, Cena is injured, Orton is injured, Rollins is injured, AJ vs. Taker isn't happening. Jericho is pretty much the top guy they've got left (Owens and Ambrose haven't quite been booked to the point where feuding with them right when you come in comes across as a major deal).
Could they have made this feel bigger? Yes. But for the purposes of structuring the show the way they felt they needed it- Rock debut in hour 2-3 crossover, Dean & Roman in main event spot so they could be out there when Steph made the announcement), AJ vs. Jericho got the most important spot that was available and it got more hype than anything else on this show.

yes and no, he surely isn't getting anywhere if he feuds with the outcasts, but this is AJ styles, he doesn't need to be chasing around the top guys, you can have competent midcard guys want to challenge him, make him out to be the guy that everyone wants to defeat to get in a better position in the company, have guys come out and say that he's just an indie guy and so AJ can prove them wrong. All of this can make AJ look better than what he is right now. Granted it's been 3 days, but the first two steps have already failed.[/quote]
If only midcard guys are coming out and challenging him, that means he isn't at the level of the main eventers. Also, that would violate the rule of "show, don't tell." You can't just say "this is AJ Styles. He's a mega-star" and then only have him beat micarders. You need to establish him by having him beat a top name.

Big Red Machine wrote: I would agree with you if we had had a decisive winner here, but we didn't. AJ won cleanly over a tough opponent, but he got the win via roll-up, and what's more, they once again teased the Styles Clash but didn't hit it. This really felt like the match you use to establish AJ so that you can have a more blow-away match that is built up more as your rematch (with Jericho possibly as a heel).

i highly disagree, you can only have one first time. You wouldn't put Rock vs Hogan on RAW with a false finish, you wouldn't do Rock vs Cena in smackdown with a roll up. WWE decided to do this dream match between a social outcasts skip and a divas match.
[/quote]
These situations are not analogous because AJ has not yet been established in WWE.

Big Red Machine wrote: These situations are not analogous because AJ has not yet been established in WWE.

this sums up the whole problem, you don't need to establish him, he's AJ Freaking Styles

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote: These situations are not analogous because AJ has not yet been established in WWE.

this sums up the whole problem, you don't need to establish him, he's AJ Freaking Styles

Except that you do. Not everyone watches New Japan. Not even everyone watches TNA or ROH. It is entirely possible that a majority of WWE's television audience had never heard of AJ Styles before Sunday night.

Big Red Machine wrote: Except that you do. Not everyone watches New Japan. Not even everyone watches TNA or ROH. It is entirely possible that a majority of WWE's television audience had never heard of AJ Styles before Sunday night.

they saw him last night at the rumble and heard the reaction, if even after that they didn't google him, then they're just casuals that won't care if Jericho vs Styles happens here or Mania.