Raw Talking Points

We are going to do something a little different with our Raw coverage. Every Tuesday will look at the talking points coming out of each episode of Raw. Let’s try to look forward and not backwards re-capping a show that the majority of you likely have seen by this point. So what are the things everyone is talking about coming out of Monday Night Raw.

1. Brock Lesnar is not coming to Survivor Series: This seems to have been made crystal clear by Monday’s episode of Raw. The Authority made an offer to John Cena to come join them on the dark side and they would guarantee him a victory when he faces Brock. He to no one surprise turned down their offer to join them instead leading us to traditional Survivor Series match. It will be Team Authority vs. Team Cena, which at this point we know that Dolph Ziggler will be on team Cena. Which with the history of Cena buddies that is not good news for him. A match with Kane can be considered the first step to doom for Dolph trapped in the Cena friend zone.

In any case, the creation of this match makes the Brock’s presence for this upcoming Survivor Series unlikely to happen. It seems like we most likely are not going to see Brock until Royal Rumble. Paul Heyman was not on the show last night either after appearing on the Hell in a Cell match on the pre-show panel. Cena after winning his match looked up at Heyman and he reacted in kind. We are not getting the WWE World Heavyweight Champion for six months defending the title. When you consider the WWE stripped Daniel Bryan because we needed a WWE Champion and us as fans deserved that. This was the words of Stephanie McMahon. In character mind you, but why did the WWE not simply create an interim champion to replace Bryan. I don’t mind the idea of Champion not being around all the time but your storyline contradicts that and no one has brought that up. Should someone not be doing that at by now? The logic gap is terrible.

These same people gave John Cena a number one contender match for losing a match and were able to get the match he wanted that he failed to get the next night on Raw. Rollins and Cena match was fine but it really proved that Ambrose and Rollins are the better feud and match at this point. The idea of Paul Heyman representing the title or holding it hostage to some extent never has materialized.

2. Randy Orton is Actually Interesting: I know this is shocking but this is two weeks in a row Randy Orton actually looks like he gives a damn. This comes soon after rumors Orton had signed a part-time time style deal. Something he denied was the case. There were also rumors he was not happy with his creative and wanted or demanded a larger role. It seems like this has happened and Orton has gotten what he was looking for.

Whatever the reason this is the most motivated Randy Orton we have seen in many years that much is for certain. A program with him and Seth Rollins seems to be on the surface to happen now or at worst after survivor series. It is a good pairing in which Rollins can go in the ring and push Orton to perform at his best. This is something that clearly was not happening, when he had been paired with Roman Reigns or the WWE poster boy John Cena. Triple H in character said that Rollins is a lot like Orton and that is somewhat true. Rollins is a decent promo but often isn’t a great promo. While in-ring the two are as good as it gets from a technical standpoint.

In any case, Randy seems to be heading towards a face turn, which may kill the fire Orton currently has. Sometimes people don’t need to turn and heels don’t always have to get along right? Will see what happens, but right now you have an interesting Randy Orton, which we have not seen in years. It all might have started from a bunch of silly Vines on the internet. Who knows but the WWE seems to have bought into the RKO out of nowhere hype.

3. The Old Ryback Is Back: Many of you are excited to see the old Ryback return. He found a time machine and took San Antonio back to 2012. I am not exactly convinced the WWE is ready to try to rocket Ryback back to the top. I think a combination of bad booking and Ryback’s own flaws have exposed him to some extent. We will see if the fans stay with Ryback and for how long they do.

The roster is extremely thin, this gives Ryback a second chance, and perhaps gains back some of what he once had. People need to keep things in prospective we have seen many guys looking like they were on a rocket ship to the top.  We have seen many guys being pushed and dropped through out 2014. Keep in mind someone like Wade Barrett should be set to return soon as well. He was on the verge of being a huge baby face prior to his injury. Right now Ryback is back but who knows what happens next week. Damien Sandow is another one that has become very popular of late.

We are one week down in the Ryback return he is not going to be in main event of Wrestlemania 31. Chill and relax just because the feed me more chant is back doesn’t give Ryback a golden pass back to the main event.

4. Dean and Bray Feud off to Rocky Start: Dean Ambrose has been the hottest guy in wrestling in the last month.  He enters this feud with Bray Wyatt, which got off to a rocky start. Many were not happy with the whole chanting and hologram angle to close Hell in a Cell. Bray’s explanation to why he attacked Ambrose was vague. He only talked about Dean being like him. It also was almost whispering at times during his promo and it made it difficult to understand at times.

I really have concerns for Ambrose in this feud to some extent. Bray Wyatt is coming off a feud that was a failure with Chris Jericho. Wyatt is basically getting a reboot to try and get him going again. You can’t say the WWE has not given Bray a huge platform in 2014 with programs with John Cena, The Shield and Chris Jericho. The strength of Bray Wyatt has been promos while his in-ring work has been sketchy at best.

This feud could be good in that regard though as Ambrose can have a brawling type of match that is what is right up Wyatt’s alley. He still is over with the fans as all those lit up phones indicate. Dean Ambrose is the hottest wrestler in the company currently on the roster. This feud is important for both guys but the one with more to lose is Bray Wyatt. He now appears to be on his own, which will be another adjustment for him to make.

5. Divas Division = Boring: Tired and uninteresting feuds are what we’ve got on the tap with the ladies. Paige and A.J Lee have been on four straight special events in a row. This could be some kind of WWE record for all that I know. Regardless this feud has been dull and boring and has not really advanced in any significant way since Paige turned heel. While we have the Bella feud that spilled out of the Stephanie and Brie feud from Summerslam. It has been awful stuff and we have a whole month of an angle and likely a Total Divas match with Team Brie and Team Nikki at Survivor Series.

Make it stop at least with the break in Total Divas maybe we can get a bit of a break from all this Divas nonsense after that? We can only hope so.

Only other note is that Roman Reigns doing these interviews on his recovery is doing him no favors. I am almost convinced you need to see him turn heel and face The Rock instead of a Brock Lesnar match for the title. He is not ready and with this injury, I am questioning if he will be. A program with The Rock makes much more sense than Rock going against Triple H in a match that I question if people would honestly care about.  It was another Raw that really wasn’t that great and dragged on as it has in recent weeks.

WWE will face the music later in the week with their conference call on the third quarter for the company. In terms of the product in the ring, it has been a major disappointment. The network numbers will likely be not much better.