Raw: Talking Points April 7th

Well 8 days removed from Wrestlemania and it feels like weeks removed after last night’s Raw. Heck half the roster was missing for WWE Day in Austin. Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose were among many fan favorites that did not show up in Austin. WWE does have a European tour ahead this week that might explain why so many were missing. Those who did show up put on a show in Austin. It featured confirmation that the main event for Extreme Rules will be Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins first title defense as Champion.

So here are some of talking points coming out of Raw in Austin.

1. Miz vs. Mizdow….Really?: Why on earth was this match happening in Austin as the match right before the main event? It turned out to be more of a story development with The Miz getting the win and now likely leaves Mizdow to chase a re-match. This however makes little sense, as this was a match that should be on a special event not something thrown into Raw. WWE did a great job of building this feud and now like the Seahawks seem to have screwed up on the goal line with an easy touchdown there for the taking. I was fine with not having Mizdow win the battle royal but this is just pure insanity. I suppose the Mizdow win is still the big pay off but it really has had a lot of the air come out of the balloon in my view.

2. NXT Call-Ups Remain Strong: There was good follow-up for both Neville and the Lucha Dragons in week two on the main roster. Neville gets a match with the New WWE Champion Seth Rollins. He had a heck of a match with Seth and it really did a lot for his stock despite taking the loss on the night. The Lucha’s were able to pick up a win in tag team action, remained over with the crowd, and perhaps most importantly botch free in victory. Seems there has been at least a short-term plan for both of these call-ups. Neville heading back to the U.K next week is a huge chance to cement him as a new star. It will be interesting to see what they with this opportunity.

3. John Cena Open Challenge Continues: His interview with Chris Jericho after Raw sucked. This new angle of having an open challenge for his newly won U.S Title doesn’t. I like the idea of Cena working with almost anyone potentially on the roster. If the pay off is done right and we get a new star capturing the U.S Belt (Sorry Vince Title) it will be great for that guy and for this title. Down the line, a Sami Zayn or a Finn Balor winning over Cena would be a huge launching pad on to the main roster. This likely doesn’t happen for a while though. Unfortunately, for Rusev this makes his gaining back his U.S title unlikely. I will never like John Cena but this is the most effective use of him and he deserves credit for taking this spot lower on the card to highlight others through this gimmick of the open challenge. Many have pointed out how it mimics Cena’s debut answering Kurt Angle’s challenge. A full circle moment for John Cena that makes him comes off in a positive light.

4. Cole remains off T.V: Rumors had Michael Cole returning with Booker T and JBL thankfully this didn’t happen. Byron Saxton was terrible yet again and I still maintain Cole being out is WWE trying to convince fans by his absence he is good at his job. Regardless of if that is correct or not Cole being off T.V had to happen, given that Brock Lesnar destroyed him a week earlier. Devaluing Lesnar is the last thing you want to do if you’re the WWE at this point.

5. Jericho is no Austin: The debut of Chris Jericho doing a live podcast was what I have come to expect from Jericho. I can’t stand his company butt kissing interviews and his attitude. Steve Austin gave the feeling of representing the average fan. Jericho represents himself and the WWE. His interview with John Cena might have been entertaining if you are a Cena fan. If you were someone looking for something of substance this was not for you. Jericho as much as he pretends to be a rebel is nothing more than a WWE puppet. Austin isn’t that and never will be that which is why fans respect him. Jericho has become a joke and his last run with the company on television in my opinion was by far his worst. I no longer consider myself a Jericholic. Chris isn’t the same guy or he is showing us who he always was through his podcast and to me he has just become a douchbag WWE apologist. We already have lots of those no need to have another. This is a blow for the WWE Network that had a cool draw with the Austin Podcast. Jericho’s version does nothing to make me want to buy the network let alone seek out these cotton candy interviews moving forward. If I am guessing, his next guest will likely be Stephanie and butt kissing will be just awful.

Oh, by the way Randy Orton is facing Seth at Extreme Rules, which we already knew before Raw. This show was a total placeholder and largely a waste of most of your 3 hours.

5 Talking Points Coming Out of WWE Raw

Last night's WWE Monday Night Raw had alot of gaining interest with the events coming out of the WWE TLC PPV. The road to the Royal Rumble began last night with special guest general manager Chris Jericho. Brock Lesnar made an impactful return to the WWE and John Cena took on Seth Rollins in a Steel Cage Match. Here's the five things I took away from last night's Monday Night Raw.

1.) Fox News Announce Team 

You ask the regular wrestling fan, Who got you hooked into professional wrestling? My answer is always Jim Ross, I started falling in love with wrestling/sports-entertainment because the story telling aspect from the ring and also on the commentary. I know that Michael Cole, JBL and Jerry Lawler is trying their best to put on a entertaining performance every single week and it's alot to cover with the bevy amount of programming the WWE producer, but last night was another reoccurance of the JBL show where he talks over everybody and it's the constant back and forth barbing between him and Cole and then again Jerry tries his 1990's one liners which are outdated and once again you sit three hours of Raw and once again you don't get anything from the announce because they don't give you a reason to care about the stuff that goes on WWE programming. I go out of my way to find the positives in wrestling and now with being a wrestling analyst I'm more paying attention to what's in the ring and I decided to mute the commentary. Unless it's a in-ring promo I mute Raw because I don't know anybody that would want to listen to Bill O'Reilly, Mitt Romney and Wolf Blitzer for three hours I just throw my hands up in the air. I can be enjoying the show for what it is, but listening to announce team is like listening to a three hour news radio show and I honestly think it's the commentary team that drags these shows down.

2.) Roman Reigns Short and Sweet 

Coming out of WWE TLC, I was really feeling that Roman Reigns was going to be treated like Batista and I'm glad that Reigns got the pop he got last night. Roman Reigns came down during a in-ring promo with Fandango and spear Fandango and then Big Show came out and what made Reigns stand out to me last night, was that Reigns was short and sweet to his point he warn Show "Don't come down here unless you want to get punch in the face" What happens? Show comes down to the ring and Reigns gives him the superman punch. I think we'll see Roman Reigns vs. Big Show program heading towards the Royal Rumble and WWE Fast Lane. WWE will throw as many "Big" performers towards Reigns direction to prepare him for Brock Lesnar. To avoid the same thing that happen with Batista last year, try to go out of your way to convince the fans that they're multiple people that can really win the Royal Rumble match and try to not make it so freaking obvious. Also what will help Reigns is that while he's trying to get his character down, have him cut as short of promos as he can possibly can plus keeping the bad ass persona. I liked what I've seen from Roman Reigns last night and we found out that Reigns will be in a match on SmackDown tonight we'll see what happens on Super SmackDown Live!

3.) Raw Is Jericho! 

I enjoyed seeing Chris Jericho on Raw last night. I don't know why you need 23 minutes to set the hook for the two main events of the show, but the promo wasn't that bad until John Cena came out. Rollins may have a good point when he called Cena a coward especially with his "white meat" baby face persona and then he goes out there and question Rollins man hood and acts so tough when tells Rollins oh go to the corner let the big boys talk. WOW YOU'RE TOUGH BRO I'M SUPPOSED TO BE SCARED OF YOU LOL. I enjoyed the interaction Jericho had with Rusev and Lana because he was trying to point out the characteristics that we don't know about Rusev and Lana even though he was treating Lana like Stephanie McMahon. I kinda wish we do see a Ryback/Rusev program that intrugies me alot. I don't get how everybody was moaning about the bevy of stipulations in the Jericho/Heyman match and i'm sitting back during the show and i'm like why are making a big freaking deal over a stipulation when the match is barely even going to happen. Overall with the nice 70's rock references and old school Jericho promos I enjoyed seeing Jericho. I'm not sure if they're are going to do another Jericho/Fandango program, but hopefully Jericho is effective the next time he comes back to the WWE.

4.) The Beast is Here!

Well it was nice to see the WWE Champion brace us with his presence last night. I'm a fan of Brock Lesnar don't get me wrong, but he hasn't done jack crap for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I never wanted him to be the champion and if anything I wanted him to have a Rock esque title reign, but that's not where we are right now. I don't understand why we need Brock to become champion just because he defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Brock could have done the same thing with Cena and take him out and then at the Royal Rumble this year he would could have won the championship and then lose it to Reigns at WrestleMania 31. I liked the Brock interaction with Jerich it was short and sweet it was kind of predictable with the time slot of that match between Jericho/Heyman since it was during the half time of the Saints/Bears game. Brock also came out later that night and laid out John Cena during his Steel Cage Match with Seth Rollins and made a major statement heading towards their final battle at the Royal Rumble. Brock Lesnar will be back on Raw on December 29th in Washington D.C. It is what it is we'll see Lesnar one week and he won't be there the next week and I would be surprise if he shows up on any of the Raws toward WWE Fast Lane. Regardless it was nice to finally see Brock Lesnar and hopefully this expermient project comes to a end.

5.) Steel Cage Match

I personally enjoyed the Cage match between Rollins and Cena more than I enjoyed the Tables Match at WWE TLC. I find it interesting how Joey Mercury always finds a way to make himself busted open. I thought it was cool seeing Rollins winning the match after being made to look like a complete and other joke earlier in the show. The handshake between Rollins & Heyman was sure interesting maybe some foreshadowing just in case Brock doesn't head into WrestleMania as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. 25 minutes was the estimated time for this steel cage match and despite Cena's lack of in-ring skills these gimmicks matches does provide the outlet for Cena to hide his weaknesses. Overall good match I thought Rollins is gaining a lot of this as a heel due to Lesnar interference, but I think the WWE made the right choice with Rollins winning last night.

Overall I thought WWE Monday Night Raw was okay it wasn't earth shattering. We got a couple things confirmed for the Royal Rumble which I like. I like that they did hit everything they needed to hit with the fallout of the pay-per-view. I felt really bad for The New Day that Detroit was pretty bogus and for fans to say they want new characters and this and that and when somebody tries to do something different they shit all over it. I thought the commentary drag the show down for me. I always like Kane and now I like him more since he not only choke slammed the Bunny and Adam Rose he also tombstone The Bunny. I gave this Raw a C+ and I think that's fair we won't have balls to wall Raw's heading to the Royal Rumble especially since there's 5 weeks left, but we'll see what happens next. What's your thought's on last night's Monday Night Raw?

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Renee Young Rises To Superstars Status

Never really made much note in the blog of Josh Mathews being let go by WWE. The reason why seems pretty clear as people like Renee Young and Todd Phillips were simply better than him. Young who has been being groomed to have a role in commentary is getting her shot calling matches on WWE Superstars. Another step up the ladder for her in the relatively quick rise she has had within the company. People in Canada know Renee with a different last name from her time working at The Score in Canada. The Score was the broadcaster for WWE Programming in Canada. She was part of a show call Right After Wrestling that changed into Aftermatch and hosted with Jimmy Korderas former WWE Official for 22 years and Arda Ocal.

Young was a huge hit on that show and obvious caught the attention of WWE and she was hired and left the Network which no longer exists and was re-branded when purchased by Rogers to Sportsnet 360. I personally have never been as crazy about her as most seem to be. I can not deny her fast move up the ladder since arriving in the WWE though. She is a talented broadcaster in her own unique way and has a great personality that shines through in the WWE as it did in her work on The Score.

Rumors had been that ESPN had interest in Young as they have had success with a couple of other former WWE announcers turned into ESPN guys. This latest challenge for Young should be very interesting as to the best of my knowledge she never did an kind of commentary in working with The Score. She has been doing it for awhile on NXT after quickly moving away from being the backstage interviewer on NXT. She has a charming chemistry with William Regal who really should be doing commentary on the main shows by now at this point. Why he isn’t, I have no idea and wrote about his brilliance in the past. Phillips and Young have been working together on NXT so the transition should be smooth. WWE .com had an article about the move playing up the fact that Young will be the first female commentator for the company in over a decade. I am not sure who they are claiming was the last. Sunny had roles on various shows so maybe that is who they are referencing. In any case this is a big deal and WWE commentary has been in bad need of a makeover for sometime.

This might be some baby steps in that direction which I think we all would welcome. The Cole, Lawler and JBL commentary team is about as stale as the current WWE Champion John Cena.

So congrats to Renee who I only ever briefly met at a Raptors game we both were covering. She really has made the most of her opportunity with the WWE. 




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