The OaO Raw SPOILER-FREE thread.

[Exslade ZX 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.

I agree completely.

 

The Finish was great. Shawn just falling on John as he was going down to the mat was a nice touch/visual. The arm work? Done well..and Cena hit a very nice Throwback IMO.

 

But really, it was not that great of a match, and I think people are overrating it, simply for the fact it was a 'one hour match on RAW.' Way to much Punch/Chop for one, as you said. And really, most of the match, I just couldn't help but think 'Get to end, so I can see what happens with Orton/Edge'...and needless to say, that didn't happen. 5, I think it was, fucking commercial breaks didn't help it either. Guess that couldn't be helped but it really took away from the match, one whcih I agree with Hoff, wasn't that great.

[Guest robrabies]

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.

 

The non-title stip made it drag in the middle for me. You can't go breakneck in 40 minute matches, but it's also hard to care when A) you know when the end is going to come time wise (because of the show layout), and B) The title isn't changing hands.

 

However, I will give credit to Cena for jobbing clean for the first time in over 2 years. Thumbs up for that, even though it's probably adding another 4 months to his reign

[randomguy 0]

ME was super boring.

[humanoid92 0]

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).

 

I agree with a lot of what you said, but the only thing I can say to that first question is that tonight's match supposedly puts Cena and Shawn at a strong disadvantage at the PPV because they're supposed to be gassed from this match. So the heels have the advantage. And since Shawn beat Cena, Shawn has a leg up on him. So the faces are fighting the odds, and Cena is fighting the ultimate odds... I guess that's the story. JR kind of tried to put that over at the end, when he said "But what did they leave here in the ring tonight?" but it could have been emphasized more.

 

Your second point is right on... where's the incentive to pay to see a lame four-way when you just saw a way better match for free? And even taking it a step beyond that, why order Wrestlemania? No one could have predicted they would have done this 45 minute (or whatever it was) rematch on Raw like this, but even so, it's become very common in recent years for there to be a lot of high-profile Wrestlemania rematches.

 

I liked the fact that they did this match because it's nice to see something different, and it's refreshing to see such a long free-TV match that had a clean finish to boot. And no bladejob or brawling into the crowd or chair shots or ref bumps. No gimmicks and no bullshit. That's always nice. Good effort from both sides and it was a fun match with a simple (if not incredibly drawn-out) story and a really good finish.

 

That said, by no means was this a classic match. The novelty of "wow, this match just keeps going and going" is cool and they worked hard, but it's not like this was some all-time classic. I like it when matches like this get undeserved amount of praise just because they're long and unexpected, but then a match like the WM 12 Iron Man gets ridiculed because it's the trendy thing to do and "it was low scoring" even though it's a far superior match. Just saying.

[Black Lushus 0]

Raz is right, Heroes is back on, so it gets my attention...

 

however, I'm glad I did watch the ME...awesome TV match, a lot of good old school stuff going on, they didn't need to rely on insane spots. Probably one of the best Raw matches in a long time, surpassing my current favorite, HBK/Shelton Gold Rush match. Cena is certainy improvng more and more and more.

[Wrestlefreak 0]

I loved the Foley/Edge interaction.

[King Cucaracha 0]

As a stand alone it was a good match. I agree with what's been said above, people are rating it on novelty value right now, because it was a rare wrestling match on a wrestling show (and it'd only really be a MOTYC by virtue of lack of competition. It is only April after all.).

 

It just seemed odd to me that this was clearly the pre-Backlash sell for the main-event, which is where you can kinda get away a screwy finish perhaps to set the PPV main up... and it goes 50 odd minutes? Non-title? They're relying on Edge, Orton and the fact that HBK has now 'proven he can beat John Cena' (as if the previous 15 years of success weren't enough) to get people to buy the PPV. Just seemed odd to me.

[Guest ScottishArmsDealer]

No clips of the Redneck Destroyer up anywhere yet?

[cabbageboy 0]

As far as WM rematches go, you can't really not order WM because of this because you don't 100% know before the PPV that they are going to do rematches ad nauseum.

 

Also, if the storyline is "Oh my god, they went 50 minutes on Raw so what do they have left for the PPV?" is what they are going for, I'm not sure I buy it. It's not like the Terry Funk/Sabu Barbed Wire match where they had to turn around a week later for a PPV with Shane Douglas added to the mix. After that match it really WAS a viable question in that they were so fucked up physically that Douglas had a major advantage (and he won the belt).

 

But yeah, the fact that it was non title hurt the suspense of it since it didn't particularly matter who won. Why did a non title bout have seemingly a 60 minute time limit anyway? Aren't title bouts 1 hour and a typical TV match just has a 20 minute time limit? Being taped also sorta hurt since I had admittedly read the spoilers and knew they were going a long time. If it'd been live, I might have gotten more into it. Ah well.

[Guest NYR10]

As far as WM rematches go, you can't really not order WM because of this because you don't 100% know before the PPV that they are going to do rematches ad nauseum.

 

Also, if the storyline is "Oh my god, they went 50 minutes on Raw so what do they have left for the PPV?" is what they are going for, I'm not sure I buy it. It's not like the Terry Funk/Sabu Barbed Wire match where they had to turn around a week later for a PPV with Shane Douglas added to the mix. After that match it really WAS a viable question in that they were so fucked up physically that Douglas had a major advantage (and he won the belt).

 

But yeah, the fact that it was non title hurt the suspense of it since it didn't particularly matter who won. Why did a non title bout have seemingly a 60 minute time limit anyway? Aren't title bouts 1 hour and a typical TV match just has a 20 minute time limit? Being taped also sorta hurt since I had admittedly read the spoilers and knew they were going a long time. If it'd been live, I might have gotten more into it. Ah well.

 

 

Cabbageboy....really.....it's okay to appriciate something that Cena was involved in.

[JHawk 0]

The length did bother me because the title wasn't on the line. Other than that, no complaints. Awesome main event.

[razazteca 0]

No no no majority of the credit goes to HBK for his selling and the climatic finish and Cena can have 5% for the beginning "I almost got you" taunt.

[Black Lushus 0]

Cena's "he won't stay down, Jimmy!" was fantastic!

[k thx 0]

Regardless of his ring work and crowd reaction, Cena's carried himself like a star for the last year or so. I think he's really stepped up to the plate over the last year to be a good champion.

[Taker666 0]

Why do oversea shows tend to suck HARD. last week's Raw was shit. The ME was pretty good. it was boring on some parts but the fact that Cena lose means that he'll retain this sunday. uttery ridiculous. The rest of the show was utter crap.

[k thx 0]

Why do oversea shows tend to suck HARD. last week's Raw was shit. The ME was pretty good. it was boring on some parts but the fact that Cena lose means that he'll retain this sunday. uttery ridiculous. The rest of the show was utter crap.

I was thinking the opposite, that they did well in giving fans likely to read the spoilers a reason to watch the shows (last week having Morello win the belt, this week a great Main Event).

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The kayfabe reason for Edge and Orton not happening is that Cena/HBK went long.

 

I thought the main event was pretty good. Not great; certainly not this ****3/4 match that some people online have said. But it was great fun.

[k thx 0]

While not a **** match, I'd say it was a **** WWE match, which of course has different criteria.

 

So far as two over, albeit limited, wrestlers going at it for nearly an hour, it was a good as you could expect.

[Hawk 34 0]

The kayfabe reason for Edge and Orton not happening is that Cena/HBK went long.

 

I thought the main event was pretty good. Not great; certainly not this ****3/4 match that some people online have said. But it was great fun.

 

I liked that Edge made sure to say why the obvious main event match didn't start last as it usually would. I was shocked they bothered to explain that move.

[mysterious_w 0]

Right here's my main event RAW preperation

 

1. On Tuesday morning, hit up the BT sites and set off RAW going while I'm at school (I'm British, and I guess by year terms I'm a high school senior).

 

2. On Tuesday night, my parents go out so I hit the beer

 

3. I watch RAW that night while under the effects of about 4 pints of ol' British Ale, and therefore don't remember much of it the next day

 

So, I've just seen RAW, and even though I'm drunk and sleepy, I was jumping up and down for ages just to see a clean no bullshit Cena loss. Personally, I also think this was a worse match than WM23, but the fact it didn't follow that (and WM 22's) ending (of F-U, opponent finisher, 1 failed attempt at STF-U then 2nd time tap out) means this match rates highly. I was disappointed that my co-patriots didn't boo Cena more strongly, but there seemed to be more women in the crowd than I expected.

 

If you're wondering why Mourinho (the dude Shane O'Mac called out) got booed so badly, London has 5 top-division clubs in Chelsea (the team he manages), Arsenal, Tottenham, West Ham and Charlton, plus many smaller clubs like Crystal Palace and Millwall. So the likelihood is that under 10% of the fans there supported Chelsea.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Harry Smith still hasn't debuted? Heh.

 

I remember him leading the running off of ECW?. Hilarious.

[razazteca 0]

Maybe Harry Smith and Brooke Hogan are making uber sports entertainment babies or something!

[RepoMan 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.

I loved the ending but I couldn't really get into the match until the last 5 mins. I'll have to rewatch it some time. I was so bored by the rest of the show I was pretty zoned out. Going through 5 or 6 commercail breaks during the match didn't help either. Plus I had no idea it was going to go 55 mins so I keep on expecting it to end soon after about 15 mins into it. No way its MOTY quaility. WM match was much better IMO.

[mysterious_w 0]

With such a slow build-up to the match, could they have not slotted in a quick 10min fast-paced match beforehand? They had plenty of available guys in Jeff, Shelton, Nitro etc.

[billdynamite 0]

Mourinho was booed because he's a wanker.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

No clips of the Redneck Destroyer up anywhere yet?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF3TGPcPxTE...ted&search=

[muzz 0]

I want to see him try it again, unless he kills somebody.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Looks like that could have broken Matt's arm or wrist.

 

Fat rednecks shouldn't be doing that shit... just punch him in the mouth and hit em with a bulldog.

[razazteca 0]

Nobody but the shorties should be doing the flippy moves. I wouldn't even call that move a Destroyer but rather call it in JR terms "an unorthodox sunset flip" Rednecks should stay true to the character and stick with the LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOO~

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

3.7 off of hours of 3.4 and 3.9