The OaO Raw SPOILER-FREE thread.

[RonL21 0]

Great Ending....Im Glad it ended w/ a finishing move and not the usually Suprise roll up

[Hawk 34 0]

Good finish. Just falls on Cena as he lands. Good match. Probably the front runner for WWE MOTY.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

OK Cena what did we learn tonight?

 

Be careful when trying to FU HBK, it's a lot like trying to powerbomb Kidman?

 

Very good, you get a gold star for the day!

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Even knowing the finish... that was still a great freaking hour of wrestling.

[razazteca 0]

55 minutes. Mark that shit down.

42+ if you don't count the commercials.

[Hawk 34 0]

Cena did better in the endurance match with Shawn then HHH did. That's gotta sting for Hunter.

[Downhome 0]

I hate that some people more than likely just read the spoilers and skipped this RAW since it was taped tonight.

 

For you guys that didn't catch this show, be sure to track that match down for sure.

[Hawk 34 0]

I think being taped made me more interested in seeing this. Had I gone into it blind, I would have expected the bullshit finish.

[Downhome 0]

You can tell just by the lack of posts in this thread that some people even here didn't give a shit about this as they usually would.

[Hawk 34 0]

Most here already knew the finish and didn't need to add anything or were just enjoying the match instead of posting second by second thoughts.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

and to think...I turned on Raw just as Carlito lost. I almost missed this thing.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

You can tell just by the lack of posts in this thread that some people even here didn't give a shit about this as they usually would.

Look at last week's Raw and the Smackdown threads. Taped shows simply don't get the posts that live shows do.

[razazteca 0]

Psssst, Heroes is back on and gets my full attention!

[Vampiro69 0]

That was a hell of a match this evening. Glad to see that the match ended cleanly.

[Downhome 0]

You can tell just by the lack of posts in this thread that some people even here didn't give a shit about this as they usually would.

Look at last week's Raw and the Smackdown threads. Taped shows simply don't get the posts that live shows do.

 

I know, that's my point. When shows are taped some people just read the spoilers instead of actually watching the show. I know people do that with SD, and I'm sure that happened tonight. That's why I think it's a shame that some people more than likely didn't see this match tonight.

 

It'll be online in no time though I guess.

 

Sadly, I think we'll see Cena win at the PPV and hold on to the belt for even longer. I'm not going to talk bad about Cena though, he's really stepped up his game since just before the ECW PPV last year.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

If Raw was actually a good show, then less people would read the spoilers to "see if it was worth watching", thus you'd see these threads packed when they tape overseas. Since Raw has sucked since 2001, you get 7 pages and like it.

[Guest robrabies]

Honestly, I think I"m going to have to watch that match again to appreciate it. With it being on Raw and the Edge-Orton thing advertised, I was confused about WTF was going on. I was also expecting a run-in type finish. It was so different from what I'm used to seeing on free TV that I can't really give an honest evaluation of it until I give it another viewing.

 

With that said, that's how long the WM match should have been. It was definitely 42 plus and probably no more than 44.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I hope Cena doesn't run into any problems health wise, or end up being a douche bag... dude is really shaping up to be something great, and has potential to have many great matches for the next 6-10 years.

[Hasbeen1 0]

If Raw was actually a good show, then less people would read the spoilers to "see if it was worth watching", thus you'd see these threads packed when they tape overseas. Since Raw has sucked since 2001, you get 7 pages and like it.

 

 

You can never tell when you're going to get a good show, or garbage, that's what pulls me back each week or at least makes me tape it. As for Cena, sure working with Micheals helps, but I think he's pretty much proven he's got what it takes in the ring. There's a lot worse.

[cabbageboy 0]

Am I the only one who really could have cared less about this tonight? Once it was non title the match had no real meaning to it other than "These guys are circle jerking for nearly an hour because Orton is a moron." I have to ask the question: Why not just make it a title match and do the same finish? Even if Cena regains at the PPV it at least give Michaels a token title win. Seriously, a 55 min. match that was non title?

 

This should have been the Backlash main event instead of the 4 way nonsense. Now we obviously know Orton is jobbing and getting buried hard in it, and poor Edge has zero momentum going into it to boot.

 

Here's something else I had to wonder tonight. They were in the UK, so why not debut Katie Lea from OVW in her hometown and have her win the women's title from Melina? It would make more sense than the Santino Marella angle last week and would have rejuvenated a division that is pretty dire at the moment.

[Hasbeen1 0]

Lol, yeah, you might be the only one. It was a really good match, even if the title didn't change hands.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I liked watching Cena yell and slap at his shoulder. That's some great jock type of selling.

 

I also loved when he was punching the shit out of Michaels on the table and yelled at the ref, "HE WON'T STAY DOWN!".

[Art Sandusky 0]

THAT was a nice touch, and explained why the match was going long better than JR could.

[Above Average 0]

I have to see that one again, but it was a hell of a match. Shawn took one hell of a beating and chose a much better limb to work this time. The early arm work teasing towards the continued arm stuff mid-match was very smart and JR's announcing really put it over. I think Cena may have the best timing of anyone on the RAW roster, because just as I was thinking Shawn's chopfest should be winding down, somebody (I believe John) calls a punch counter-chop spot, although I wouldn't be suprised if HBK did it either.

 

John's worked much better mid-match sequences around the back/mid-section during his 'ground and pound' heel run on Smackdown (Cena/Taker in particular), though knowing he was going an hour probably affected that. Still even the biggest Cena critics have to admit he's alway smart about how his big matches are layed out and he does the little things extremely well. Him shouting 'I know, I let him go!' at the ref after breaking on the STFU, pounding on his arm to get some feeling back during his comeback and asking King what he needs to do to beat HBK stand out. Michaels brought the content by breaking the count on the fall into the announce table, finally punching instead of chopping after John pissed him off and the best one of them all was when Cena grabbed Michaels' hair from the hammerlock and then HBK shoots a half from it into one of the smartest pinning sequences I've seen in a while. Really freshened up a slow mid-section.

 

Nobody really sells longterm anymore so both guys sold extremely well IMO. They also went above and beyond with tons of call backs to the Wrestlemania match... half of the damn counter sequences were built from there. The piledriver counter, second rope FU into the corner powerbomb, Shawn catching John mid-lariat and turning it into a backslide after tuning up the band, Cena catching the SCM when the ref backed him off from STFU in the sequence I mentioned earlier and after all those there are still more I could list, but that ending was clearly the biggest one. The WWE Main Event Style is limiting in some respects but its movie-like builds definitely lead to red hot finishes. Can't say enough about that ending and how all the teases helped it. The only thing that would have made it better is if they didn't protect SCM so much during the delayed pins. It takes Shawn like a minute to make those covers.

[Hoff 0]

So...am I the only one who thought the main event wasn't very good?

 

It was like Wrestlemania, only slower, with more of the "punch, chop, punch, chop, big move, near fall, big move, lay around, up, punch, chop, punch, chop" stuff. After the near-fall off of the F-U, they didn't seem to know exactly what to do. Not their fault as I'm sure Edge/Orton was pencilled in, but it seemed slow and uninteresting. They stole a lot of their own spots, too. I'd have liked to see more variance. Basically, for the first 15 minutes Cena and Michaels switched rolls from WM, with Cena in control, and then it was a whole lot of nothing. Finish was nice, but even that was a spot they pulled at WM.

 

Thumbs down for me on this week's show, and I'd give the main *** at best.

[Hasbeen1 0]

Not trying to be a smartass, but with who's on the roster right now, what more could you want?

[FroGG_NeaL 0]

Awesome fucking match.

 

"He won't stay down Jimmy! He won't stay down!" was one of the best spots I've seen in a minute.

[Above Average 0]

So...am I the only one who thought the main event wasn't very good?

 

It was like Wrestlemania, only slower, with more of the "punch, chop, punch, chop, big move, near fall, big move, lay around, up, punch, chop, punch, chop" stuff. After the near-fall off of the F-U, they didn't seem to know exactly what to do. Not their fault as I'm sure Edge/Orton was pencilled in, but it seemed slow and uninteresting. They stole a lot of their own spots, too. I'd have liked to see more variance. Basically, for the first 15 minutes Cena and Michaels switched rolls from WM, with Cena in control, and then it was a whole lot of nothing. Finish was nice, but even that was a spot they pulled at WM.

 

Thumbs down for me on this week's show, and I'd give the main *** at best.

 

That was kind of the point... Shawn wasn't better at WM for the title, but this time he proved he was. He had to do it after being so adament that Cena wasn't the better man. They've pushed that since the last match and I don't think it's stealing a spot if something new happens at the end. I do agree there was much more filler, but they were going long like you said because of Edge/Orton and cut it before it got TOO tedious. IF WM was **** I'd give this ****1/2. And like was said earlier frontrunner for WWE MOTYC.

[cabbageboy 0]

I'd have rather seen Edge against somebody for about 15 minutes or so and then do Cena/Michaels for about 25 mins. I just think 55 minutes on TV is too much time for a match that honestly doesn't have that much to say. Cena can't put HBK away...okay fine. They can't tell that story in 25 minutes?

 

There's a PPV on Sunday, right? What did anything on this show tonight do to make people want to see Backlash? Michaels/Cena tonight was already a better match than the tepid 4 way promises to be (where we all know Orton is jobbing). Did seeing Shane/Vince/Umaga beat up some local guy really make anyone want to see Lashley take them on at Backlash?

 

This PPV just feels odd, like they just had to throw something together to do a PPV or maybe haven't ironed out the kinks in putting all the brands on the same PPV. Maybe SD will do more to sell UT/Batista, since Raw didn't feel like any sort of "go home" show before a PPV.

 

Oh and one thing that is beginning to annoy me to no end. Why do Shane and Vince now say "Oh, don't expect Lashley tonight. He isn't going to be here!?" I mean Lashley IS an ECW guy and thus really has no business being on Raw, so why would people expect him to be there at all?

[Hoff 0]

Meh. I've got it on TiVo and since it's apparently me vs. the world on this one, I'll give it another look...but I was not impressed. But hey, if everyone thought it rocked, good for 'em. Good TV matches are rare.