I think, him being a part timer, he may not actually be covered by it.
Printable View
Otunga disappeared for ages but then came back and did those Network pre-shows. No idea if he's officially retired or just doesn't need to bother.
I'd been wishing I could stay up and watch last night but as it turned out they didn't make it even vaguely interesting.
The seethe when Reigns wins Sunday and then goes heel.
"I'm not a good guy, I'm not a bad guy... I'm THE bad guy!"
<Razor's music hits>
They need to get Rollins face and Reigns heel pronto. Unless they're actually positioning Reigns as their only top-level babyface on Raw. Which they probably are.
Bayley finally called up.
People were so happy to see Mojo Rawley.
They were already talking about it being a "one off" during the Pay Per View.... so I doubt it.
Yeah it looks like she'll be in NXT for a while longer, presumably to finish off her feud with Asuka. Won't be long before she's full time, though.
Summerslam's got to be Charlotte vs Sasha so they're better off having her move over properly after then.
Sasha wins the title, Charlotte and Dana chimp out and beat the crap out of her, Bayley with the save.
The best part of Battleground was the Highlight Reel.
Jericho was hilarious and Orton actually looked like he cared.
Agreed, other than Zayn/Owens, which was superb as expected. Highlight Reel a close 2nd though. Orton even got a laugh out of me with his Fandango comment, which must be a first.
OSW's latest is out. They've turned to Patreon for funding which, I guess is cool as they'd get nowt otherwise. Arn Anderson and Flair wrestling was an actual treat.
I enjoyed that quite a lot. Feels like the best PPV in a while. Yeah, wouldn't be hard, whatever, I genuinely liked it. I watched the womens tag match having seen Bayley vs. Asuka from the NXT Dallas show last night and not being bored to tears by it. Wyatts and New Day was sort of coasting but once Woods and Bray were first in the right the pace and "story" of it were bang on. Rusev and Ryder was fine for what it was. Zayn and Owens was bangin', genuinely had a moment of fearing for Zayn when he fucked up that springboard thing (was he actually hurt or did he improvise on the arm like a boss?) and then lol'd when he almost botched a foot on the rope as well. Skipped the second womens match, Miz vs. Young I don't understand why it couldn't have had an actual finish. Were the commentators tallking about a fine for Miz? Get lost.
The second six man tag was good too once it got going. The crowd are fucking shit hot for Enzo and Cass too and once it's decided to let the New Day lose the belts (do they have the record yet? If not I assume you let them set a decent record then have them lose) it really has to be Enzo and Cass. Though of course Cena got the decisive moment.
And then the main event felt too short given how long this has been built up but I liked it. As soon as Ambrose was bundled out of the ring and Reigns kicked out of the Pedigree the general gist of the finish was plainly obvious but I really thought they'd have one of the Raw pair win so Ambrose was a nice surprise.
Genuinely thought it was a good show.
With only one match to go on NXT Dallas I'm watching the main event. I bloody love Tonga Jeff. Get him on the main roster so I can watch him win 48 consecutive matches again Dolph Ziggler already.
My main gripe would be every match (bar the 6 man tags, which I didn't care for in the slightest) was pretty much spoiled by the draft. Rusev and Miz both had to retain as if one lost the other had to and Miz-Rusev to Ryder-Young was too big a downgrade. Becky Vs Nattie had to be Nattie as they are on the same show so the feud is continuing and Zayn was obviously going to go over KO to end the feud (that's not to do with the draft but still). Main Event I guess was up in the air but I always thought Ambrose would retain so they could bring out a new belt at the start of the night tonight. Still it was a decent enough show, but yea, I think the draft should have come after it.
Rusev and Miz were going to retain because there was no real reason for them to lose. That wasn't really the fault of the draft, just poor booking of challenger-of-the-month acts in Ryder and Young. Though I hope Young gets some more shots somewhere because for all that I skipped all bar the first of the vignettes with Backlund there may actually be something there. If only in an enterianing-mid-card sort of way.
The 6-mans there's not really much to argue, I suppose. It's hard to objectively rate such a match. I personally thought they really worked.
As for the main event, the reason I had an inkling that Ambrose would drop the title is I thought they'd want to keep the one with some history on Raw. Maybe even have Rollins pin Reigns so Smackdown could say Ambrose never lost as an excuse to as good as put a new belt on him.
I should clarify I didn't even watch the 6 man matches, because I didn't care about them. So they could have been great, but yea, it takes something special to keep me interested in those matches.
I find them hit or miss. What I liked about these two is that they actually gave most of the people in the match their moment to do something. The biggest exceptions probably being Doc Gallows and Braun Strowman in their matches. But if you're generally not a fan of six man tags there's probably nothing there that's going to win you oer, and as much as I've quite liked the New Day/Wyatts fued part of me thinks they ought to have had a tag titles match on the last pre-split show. You can still do the Woods/Bray stuff, just have Kingston removed from the match somehow (eaten by Strowman.)
Surprised that Sasha won the title last night. I thought they'd save that for Summerslam.
What a shit name for a title.
Also loving that they're still trying to book Reigns on the face side of things. They're never, ever going to give up are they? Not sure what I think about Balor immediately becoming number one contender but should make for a good match and I guess if he's been drafted as their third pick or whatever it was you just sort of go with them instantly shoving him into the main event.
Is it just me that finds the coup de grace really underwhelming?
I find Finn Balor underwhelming.
I skipped through it in about 15 minutes but raw seemed p good.
You would imagine a Baron Cordin v Ambrose title match might be on the cards for SummerSlam.
Having seen FOUR Finn Balor matches (two of them on Raw) I think I'm well-placed to say that WWE are getting a bit over-excited about him.
He'll majestic them more money than Reigns and that's all that matters. PRINCE <3
The people he will make money from already give WWE most of their income (having sworn never to do so again after the last pay per view didn't go their way).
It doesn't matter anyway, Bayley is already the new cash cow.
That's the 'fat' angle sorted, then.
It's a new era Maggle!
This reminds me of Madison Square Garden in 1928 when a young Fabulous Mula fought The Great Depression to retain her Women's title.
I like Finn Balor as a wrestler, but when he talks it's surprising how someone who looks so fit struggles for breath between every single word.
As a non-NXT watcher, Raw was my first real exposure to Balor. I thought he was pretty good, really enjoyed the match with Reigns and think he came across well.
Reigns being pinned clean twice in 2 nights is something I never thought I'd see a month ago.
I flicked through Raw last night and I like the presentation - Michael Cole's role is quite decent, in that he's actually saying a few intelligent things here and there and pretty much letting Byron Saxton (needs work) and Corey Graves (pretty good) call the match.
I've read the Smackdown results and I see that the broadcast team there is David Otunga, Mauro Ranello and JBL, which seems a strange combo on the face of it.
I'm thinking Lesnar vs Orton is going to be Summerslam's main event, at least on paper.
Jerry Lawler was playing the heel again on Smackdown recently so I'd rather they'd fuck JBL off instead. Ballgame!
They better not. We need John o'clock.
JBL is fucking abysmal. He really ruined the commentary last night.
I thought Smackdown was a bit meh. Nowhere near the level of Raw.
Smackdown was indeed a bit meh but then when you saw the whole roster at the ring in the opening of the show you see that the cupboard is slightly bare, even for a two hour show. Well, I say two hours, I'm not sure how long it actually is once you count ads such as the one that arrived about 30 seconds into the main event and then another which delayed getting back to their main event to talk about Brock sodding Lesnar appearing on Raw next week.
And Dolph Ziggler was the last person I expected to win that. I thought Cena or AJ winning and then the other being included for a triple threat at Summerslam was more likely but fancied Wyatt for the win (rookie error) and even thought one of the other pair might be given the nod, much as I would have thought that would have been a mistake. Hopefully they turn Ziggler given his "character" is a dead-end waste of time at the moment.
And on that subject, Orton simply isn't funny enough for what they're trying to get him to do at the moment.
I'd mark out if Zigglypuff won the title, but he won't. Still nice to see him get a chance.
Eva Marie's entrance was amazing though, that's the only part I watched.
Mauro Ronaldo sounds like Scott Hudson.
I really don't like Ziggler. People moan about the indie guys, but he's the archetypal flippy shit with no psychology guy.
I tend to find myself watching Ziggler matches thinking I should be enjoying them more than I do.