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Post by jrgoldman on Apr 16, 2012 22:14:53 GMT -5
Well, from the thread Swarm started, it looks like I might be by myself for a while. While everyone is just enjoying the product for what it is, I thought I would record what I thought of the shows, so when everyone gets back, they have an organic, as it was happening comparison to what was going on at the time. This probably won't include Smackdown unless something noteworthy happens.
Raw 4/16/12
- In England, always a pretty good crowd.
- The Jericho/Punk stuff borders on absurd now.
- Man, Mark Henry is a great pro wrestler. Him and Punk have really good chemistry.
- Bryan is so over that the English were booing Sheamus. Insane. Also, Bryan's backstage stuff is golden.
- Someone must have told Albert to dial it up on the Asian stuff. He kept doing fake karate. This sort of felt like a waste, because you have to think they could've gotten a ppv match or two out of this pairing, but it ruled that Albert won. I guess you can't call it clean, but not many people have gotten pinfalls on Cena recently. I love Albert's old school heel offense. I would have been terrified of him in 1988.
- I liked the Lesnar interview. He is just different from everyone else on the roster, and it is so apparent. I was never a huge Lesnar fan, but he reminds me of why I loved wrestling from a young age: so many different bombastic characters.
- This just in: Dolph Ziggler bumps like an absolute mad man. I want someone to invent a time machine so I can see him bounce around for Stan Hansen, Vader and the like.
That's all I cant think of. I'll be back for the other shows, including a live report for Extreme Rules.
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Post by pikemojo on Apr 16, 2012 23:19:12 GMT -5
I agree with you on all accounts. I never used to be much of a fan of Mark Henry but more recently really have started to enjoy his work. It probably isn't a secret that I am a Lord Tensai fan but I really enjoyed the match tonight. I think it still leaves it open for a really good PPV main event some time down the line since this wasn't exactly a clean win or even a normal match. Cena is a quality wrestler no matter what the IWC will say. He doesn't do all the crazy flippy stuff. He just does a few solid moves well and he sold really well to Tensai tonight, especially the green mist in the eyes.
My honest opinion is that WWE is currently the strongest it has been in years. There are so many different personalities and most aren't reliant on dumb gimmicks. The roster is also the most racially diverse I have seen in quite a while. I normally don't care a whole ton about whether something like WWE is racially diverse but it has definitely made things interesting in WWE. It wouldn't work if the diversity was attained at the expense of the quality of wrestling but I don't really see that it has. For the first time in quite some time I am making it a point to try to check out WWE each week.
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Post by Big Bri on Apr 17, 2012 22:15:08 GMT -5
It was a nice shot in the arm to see Tensai beat Cena. Now I'm really starting to hope Cena snaps. Daniel Bryan has "it" for sure. If/when Ziggler turns on Vicki (not saying anything on the show clued this in, but I'm just saying eventually) he's going to be over huge.
A match I'd actually like to see is Brock vs. Triple H. Trips was one of the very few main eventers that Brock never faced in his first run. Trips would probably put himself over though.
Yes, WWE is mildly interesting right now.
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Post by jrgoldman on Apr 30, 2012 18:38:05 GMT -5
So I went to extreme rules last night. I didn't take notes or anything, but I'll try and compose my thoughts:
Got there for the opening pyro, which almost made me crap my pants.
I never in a million years would have guessed that Randy Orton and Kane would have had good chemistry. It's actually sort of bizarre, but I find myself saying that about Randy alot since he became a face. I was a huge fan of his heel work, but he has been boring as a face. This apparently hasn't prevented Randy from having really solid matches with a bunch of different guys.
The crowd was really in to Dolph Ziggler. The match was just the right time to keep me interested. This was the first time I actually thought about how Ziggler would be as a face, working from underneath.
I loved the finish to the Cody/Big Show match, although I don't see what cody can do with the belt that he hasn't already done. How did the post match stuff look on TV? It felt almost like a double turn to me.
I have nothing to say about the Bryan/Sheamus match other than it was awesome and I felt the wrong guy won. The live crowd was a lot more split than I thought. I wonder where they are going with this.
The CM Punk/Jericho match was really good. It felt like a throwback match for sure.
Lesnar/Cena was the best WWE match since Cena/Umaga at the 07 Rumble. I was thrown by the finish at first, but I actually think it is fine. Without getting all fantasy bookey, I am looking forward to the potential "A World without Superman: WWE Edition".
A great PPV, and I think it will lead to a really interesting Raw tonight.
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Post by Big Bri on Apr 30, 2012 21:48:36 GMT -5
After feeling I deserved a partial refund for the pile of dung known as WrestleMania 28, I came very close to buying Extreme Rules, only to tell myself "Oh, they'll just drop the ball again." LOL, whaddya know? They end up putting on a darn good PPV (from what I've heard anyway).
Watch, I'll get roped into getting Over The Limit and that will suck.
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Post by jrgoldman on Apr 30, 2012 22:57:57 GMT -5
So tonight's Raw sort of summed up a lot of things that WWE does well, and some things they can do better. It was a very average Raw, not in terms of content, but in terms of the way that Raw is constructed.
I always love Beat the Clock. It has built in tension and stakes, although they have used a very similar formula for a long time. Why not have Miz interfere in the other matches to try and protect his time? I feel the concept is really great, they just need to try something new with it.
Michael Cole ruled tonight. I actually thought to myself that he might be better just announcing by himself, when he doesn't feel he needs to be contrarian.
Loved the Dean Ambrose signs.
When did HHH forget how to talk? Every time he comes out now, it is just boring and awful. Mad props for letting Brock kill him, but HHH basically spent 7 minutes prior to that telling Brock he isn't special and doesn't deserve anything extra. This was silly.
I am more excited about the Cena/Ace match than I was about the potential Tensai/Cena match. I don't know what this says about my taste in wrestling, but I don't really want to see Cena in a match so much as an entertaining mess.
I am looking forward to Punk/Bryan matches.
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Post by Big Bri on May 3, 2012 22:06:59 GMT -5
Yeah, Triple H just talked in circles. I'd like to see him and Brock go at it but it should've happened 9 years ago. You know darn well Trips wasn't about to put him over back then though.
I liked Johnny Ace getting pushed over the edge and attacking Cena. I honestly didn't see that coming.
Punk vs. Bryan will be good, but they kinda killed the steam by having them face each other a few times right before Mania.
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