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Post by Tim of thee on Aug 22, 2021 1:45:32 GMT -5
Don’t like Brock but his return makes much more sense than Rock’s.
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Post by Evil Abed on Aug 22, 2021 2:05:41 GMT -5
Can't say Summerslam did anything to pull my interest back to WWE programming.
Pros:
— Riddle is the hottest act on Raw right now, I'm really hoping WWE doesn't do too much to screw up his character because he plays it perfectly. He got a pretty sick pop from the crowd at the start of the show. The RK-Bro dynamic is fun although we all know where it will lead to. One of the very few fun dynamics of Raw at the moment.
— Priest/Sheamus. Always love a good hard hitting battle. Priest still seems to be coming out of his shell a bit but if he turns it up he could be something good for Raw. Sheamus is the most underrated guy on Raw right now imo. Flies under the radar because he's not in multiple segments or heavily promoted but the guy always delivers.
— Might be in the minority, im excited about Brock. Im hoping its something different, he doesn't have Heyman at his side now, let him play the badass face and have Reigns continue to dodge him until he can't anymore. Surely this feud won't culminate at Extreme Rules? I kinda figured at some point we'd get the "Paul in the Middle" feud between Reigns and Lesnar, it just seemed inevitable.
Cons:
— Drew McIntyre. Ugh man, I just don't know where you go with Drew unless you try to heel turn and reboot from all the damage the company has done to his character from about last fall to now.. The sword needs to go, quit swinging at people, we know you're not about to chop someones head off for real. Swinging and missing by 30 feet and claiming it was "that close" just is overproduced fake nonsense. Stop trying to make him this weird lovable Cena/Hogan character doing surveys with the crowd cutting over the top dorky promos and let Drew be Drew.
— Edge/Rollins. For a feud that was supposed to be super intense and heated, I didn't really feel that at all. Felt like an ordinary wrestling match falling short even so of the "dream match" I was hoping it would turn out to be. The last minute Brood stuff was dumb. At no point during their actual run in the late 90's during a time when Undertaker was crucifying people and Kane was trying to bonfire folks did anyone look at the brood and say they were twisted and dangerous. Creepy and weird sure but this whole idea that Edge's dark place in his heart relates back to the brood felt more like someone writing this feud that didn't understand the source material.
— Cena/Reigns. We all knew the outcome (especially when you go TV the night before and offer up your top act's career) but even so, the match to me never felt like it got going. Don't know if its ring rust for Cena or what (ill meet the guy halfway considering the guy hasn't had a legit match in about 3-4 years) but lots of stalling, lots of pandering to the crowd, not a lot of action. The Rock/Cena Mania 29 repeated false finishes didn't do it any favors either. When was the last time anyone was pinned by a superman punch from Reigns? Doing the same Punch, Pin, Kickout routine 3 times or so gets old.
— Miz/Morrison/Woods. All im gonna say for this is, if there ever comes a point in the WWE lifespan where someone else gets to do a "Rise and Fall" of WWE documentary this certainly would make the portion where they show how bad the product got toward the end. I got WCW 2000 vibes with Oklahoma and BBQ sauce. Poor crowd, forced to choose in a survey between giving a water gun to Miz/Morrison or have Woods do his lame schtick. Are we certain there's no third option?
— Becky/Bianca. Ugh I don't know what exactly the result would have been had Sasha not fallen off the face of the earth but it couldn't have been worse than this. There's nothing about this that made any sense to me. Having Becky back is great, she's a proven draw but again the obsession with going back to the same old crap (Hi Charlotte!) is what's going to kill this company. There's way more money in Becky spending months trying to chase back a title she never lost (even if its technically the SD and not Raw women title) Instead you have her cheap shot Bianca and beat her with two moves (when did Becky start using the Rock Bottom?) making her seem completely insignificant and everything she built since Mania pointless. And the worst part is it seems that we'll be heading to a Bianca heel turn just so Becky can stay top face, when I feel more like its Becky that's acting like the heel. Nothing about this makes sense. Can't wait for the obligatory "We're both supposed to be faces so lets team for a few weeks against Zelina and Carmella just to eat up some TV time even though I should really despise you because you took my title so ill turn heel on you after the next PPV" storyline.
— Goldberg/Lashley. Im surprised someone didn't seriously get injured in this match (not meaning Goldbergs potential knee injury, more so Lashley getting dropped on his head nearly 5 or 6 times) At this point having Goldberg lose every one of his matches does nothing for his aura (and nothing for promoting a PPV when you're trying to make him look like a legit threat) and competing for titles that he shouldn't be anywhere near does nothing for the company. Best way to use Goldberg for the rest of his contract is have him come back and smash someone like Miz/Morrison, pop the crowd and exit.
— Mysterios/Usos. Im hoping this is the end of this feud, seen it so many times already and no ones really asking for it. Its basically Smackdowns equivalent of Cedric/Shelton facing Kofi/Woods god knows how many times last year on Raw. Smackdown has enough teams to move on from this (Alpha Academy would be a fresh feud). Give us the Dominik heel turn and the Rey feud that nobody wants to have to sit through and get it over with.
— Charlotte/ASH/Ripley. Yay another Charlotte title run. Albeit Nikki ASH just wasn't cutting it, she's nothing more than another talent wasted on some incredibly dumb gimmick dreamed up straight out of the wrong decade. Crazy psycho Nikki was money. I can't wait for Raquel to lose at Takeover so she can move up to main roster to get fed to Charlotte (you know that's where they're going with it). Shayna/Rhea/Asuka could be doing so much for Raws women's division its an absolute shame this is what we keep getting.
— Alexa Bliss/Eva Marie. At this point you've basically exhausted/overexposed Alexa to where her character doesn't mean much anymore. Eva Marie serves no purpose. Doudrop is stupid.
On a side note to think that we still got talented guys like Cesaro/Shinsuke/Owens/Zayn/Balor just "sitting in catering" with nothing to do is mind boggling.
Hoping Takeover will provide better entertainment tomorrow. Personally looking forward to WALTER/Dragunov.
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Rocky Balboa
Main Eventer
Down bad for Rhea Ripley
Joined on: Jan 1, 2021 6:00:02 GMT -5
Posts: 2,151
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Post by Rocky Balboa on Aug 22, 2021 2:55:57 GMT -5
Lesnar's new look is killer.
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Post by chaz on Aug 22, 2021 5:23:40 GMT -5
I think most (smart) people knew Brock was going to return. It wasnt if but when. There was never a doubt of where. Anyone that thought he was going to the other place was just fooling themselves. Im not a huge fan of the way Bianca lost but assuming it brings her into a heel turn & freshens up her character Ill withhold judgement. Everyone was concerned about what WWE/Vince could/would do to to counter the other place. One place brought in an ice cream sales man & the other brought in 2 Wrestlemania Main Eventers. I think WWE just flexed again. This isn’t Harry Potter, you are allowed to say AEW. 😂
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Deleted
Joined on: Apr 25, 2024 3:02:51 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2021 5:28:21 GMT -5
So they kill Bianca’s reign, hotshot another Becky reign, and go right back to the same old Brock/Roman bs?
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Post by tiny04 on Aug 22, 2021 5:33:45 GMT -5
Edge vs Rollins was MOTN. Absolute banger from 2 of the best. Seth Rollins is still criminally underrated in my eyes.
Roman vs Cena was a banger as well. Love that Roman won clean. And Lesnar's return was great. Sidenote: that Cena shirt based off Super Mario looks cool af.
I'm probably in the minority, but I liked Becky's return and aftermath. I'm not a fan of Bianca Belair, she's a terrible babyface and her personality grates on me. This should turn her heel for a 2nd match with Becky, a role she will be much more suited to.
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Post by cordless2016 on Aug 22, 2021 6:23:41 GMT -5
Remember a few months ago when everyone thought Cesaro was gonna be getting a huge push? Yeah, me too…
I wonder if the food in catering was atleast decent for him, Balor, Owens, Sami, Shinsuke, Crews, etc…I honestly dont get how they had so many matches and couldn’t fit these guys on the show (outside of a random Shinsuke entrance).
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Deleted
Joined on: Apr 25, 2024 3:02:51 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2021 6:27:20 GMT -5
Trying to catch up on what happened last night.
Can someone thoroughly explain why Sasha wasn’t there?
Did she no-show? Hurt? Sick? Kayfabe “unforeseen circumstances” so Becky could show up? No one knows?
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Post by kennyw86v2 on Aug 22, 2021 6:30:48 GMT -5
Becky and Brock? In 1 amazing night? What did we do to deserve this gift of the gods?
Oh that's right. CM Punk.
Way to overreact by pushing what you like, not what anyone actually asked for. Way to be Vince.
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Post by kennyw86v2 on Aug 22, 2021 6:31:44 GMT -5
Trying to catch up on what happened last night. Can someone thoroughly explain why Sasha wasn’t there? Did she no-show? Hurt? Sick? Kayfabe “unforeseen circumstances” so Becky could show up? No one knows? Because cm punk. So vince went with what he assumed everyone would want, since they wanted it 30 months ago.
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Post by tylerbreezee on Aug 22, 2021 7:06:45 GMT -5
Fell asleep lol
Guess Cena didn’t win because if he did, it’s a signal that his time is drawing near for retiring fully from WWE so I guess they’re not ready to pull the trigger just yet.
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Post by Triple S: POOR on Aug 22, 2021 8:01:57 GMT -5
Oh, I cried. Tears of joy. Where’s my WrestleMania tickets, Tommy?
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Post by JTG on Aug 22, 2021 8:43:53 GMT -5
Overall I found the show entertaining enough to maintain my interest but it was definitely a mixed bag. My two cents for what it's worth...
Match of the night for me is Edge vs. Rollins followed by the Raw Women's Championship triple threat. I was by far the most engaged by both of these matches and everyone seriously delivered here.
I'm a huge Becky fan so I'm very happy she's back but I hate the way she squashed Bianca. I hope they fast track a rematch for a proper encounter between these two. It would be nice if Becky can return the favour in the next few months since Bianca's reign got short changed here.
Sheamus vs. Priest was also a fun hard-hitting bout. This match made the US title feel special and I'm hoping Priest gets to defend against a variety of the Raw mid-card moving forward. Glad Priest picked up the win here. Gives some fresh talent great exposure on Raw.
RK-Bro picking up the Raw Tag Championships was somewhat predictable but a good move. I'm intrigued to see who they go up against next. Hoping AJ goes back to singles competition but I wouldn't be surprised if we get a series of rematches unfortunately.
Brock returning was another genuine surprise. His new look works as a cool refresh for his character. It's been a while since we've seen face Brock, and it'll be interesting to see how his feud with Roman goes this time around with the heel/face roles reversed.
Everything else on the card was pretty forgettable for me. I liked the big event feel of the show but only 50% of the card lived up to that feeling for me.
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Post by TheSystem 1.5 on Aug 22, 2021 8:47:19 GMT -5
Trying to catch up on what happened last night. Can someone thoroughly explain why Sasha wasn’t there? Did she no-show? Hurt? Sick? Kayfabe “unforeseen circumstances” so Becky could show up? No one knows? No one really knows what’s up. Before SummerSlam Bianca and Sasha were suddenly pulled from house shows too
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@brit_figs
Main Eventer
WF 10 Year Member
Joined on: Sept 25, 2009 13:02:15 GMT -5
Posts: 3,729
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Post by @brit_figs on Aug 22, 2021 8:54:16 GMT -5
Gotta say, I marked when Brock's music went off as I thought we might have heard Big E just wasn't expecting that at all.
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Post by tylerbreezee on Aug 22, 2021 8:54:24 GMT -5
USA def mad as hell that Lesnar returned and he’s gonna be showing up on Smackdown. Same for Becky. Smackdown already does way better ratings than Raw as it is without those two. One would think they’d give their returns to the show that’s lacking a main event scene.
I figured Lesnar would’ve came out to confront Lashley 🤷🏼♂️
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Post by figurecollector on Aug 22, 2021 9:49:12 GMT -5
Sasha to reporter: "Wait a minute, what do you mean the PPV was last night?"
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Post by Codyverse: Tag Team Champion on Aug 22, 2021 10:33:42 GMT -5
My take on last night
Pros: Edge - Rollins was great. The brood entrance was badass
Becky’s return and pop
Cena - Reigns was fun. Brock’s return was great and whether you like the look or not, it’s a fresh take
RK-Bro match was fun. Riddle is hot and they’re capitalizing on it.
AJ Styles still with the best hair in the business
Cons: Bianca got made to look like an idiot. I don’t really care for her. My wife loves Becky but even after all that happened she said “that was stupid”
Goldberg. I like him but they need to figure out a better way to use him
The 3D stuff for entrances need to go. That turd snake is embarrassing
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Thunder Chunky
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 1, 2010 21:57:30 GMT -5
Posts: 4,488
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Post by Thunder Chunky on Aug 22, 2021 11:14:11 GMT -5
Apparently, WWE knew 8 days ago that Sasha couldn't wrestle last night but continued to promote the match anyways.
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Post by cordless2016 on Aug 22, 2021 12:27:10 GMT -5
USA def mad as hell that Lesnar returned and he’s gonna be showing up on Smackdown. Same for Becky. Smackdown already does way better ratings than Raw as it is without those two. One would think they’d give their returns to the show that’s lacking a main event scene. I figured Lesnar would’ve came out to confront Lashley 🤷🏼♂️ But then they wouldn’t be able to continue the Lashley/Goldberg feud everyone has been clamoring for.
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