*OFFICIAL* Raw Discussion Thread: April 23rd 2012

[Majin HoHo]

This week, Brock Lesnar and John Cena will confront one another face to face in the ring as they sign the contract to confirm their Extreme Rules match. Last week, Brock Lesnar had some harsh words for Cena in a taped interview. For Cena, questions remain about his focus after surprisingly losing to the recently debuted, Lord Tensai. Questions have been asked about whether Cena has been in the right frame of mind since losing to the Rock at Wrestlemania 28, and with an even more dangerous opponent around the corner, it seems that Cena doesn't have a long time to get back to his best. Tune in to this blockbuster three hour Raw to see what happens between these two volatile and controversial athletes.

Also on Raw

 
Last week, Lord Tensai shocked the world by defeating John Cena in the main event. Who could be next for Tensai and can anybody stop his momentum? Also last week, Chris Jericho once again tried to make his rivalry with CM Punk even more personal. Punk successfully defended his WWE Championship against Mark Henry in a no disqualification match and, with a Chicago street fight against Jericho coming up, has the first ever Undisputed Champion only served to fuel Punk in his quest for revenge? We also saw the Big Show and Khali team up and defeat the tag team Champions, Epico and Primo. Could a tag team championship match be looming for them? And with Santino and Brodus Clay's rivalry with Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger gaining more steam, expect to see more between these four this week. With just under a week until Extreme Rules, this is set to be an exciting Raw Supershow.

 Usually the 3 hours Raw are great, I expect Brock to Cena through the Table, during the contract, and we will see how everyone shapes out.

[RyPrax]

Usually I find the 3 hour raws to be terrible lol. They barely have enough talent on both shows to fill 2 hours, yet alone 3. Extreme Rules looks like a decent card do we'll see. We'll get a punk or jericho match, probably a 6 or 8 man tag of some sort, the contract signing will be 20 minutes, Kane and Orton build, DBry promo, etc.

[RyPrax]

‏ @TheCurtHawkins
 
Going to need everybody's help tonight. Let's have a little fun during RAW. #SaveReksAndHawkins

Adam's gonna mark out.

[chappers]

Even though it might be good that they'll be on RAW, I can already sense that the story will probably fall short and come across as awkward. I mean no one watches NXT or Superstars so how are most people going to know about their storyline. I think the WWE should do some more promoting of this kind of stuff before it happens on either RAW or Smackdown, show why they got suspended or whatever, even if its just one of those little promo window box things they sometimes do before a match. I shouldn't really judge this stuff before it happens, but they've done it quite regularly before now and it just hasn't worked.

[RyPrax]

This guy should be at every show:

[Majin HoHo]

Must be Brock's friend,lol.Alright my thoughts on Raw, I was a little confused with the contract signing to start the show, thank God it was done earlier, but later we would find out, maybe it should be first,lol.Then OMG Edge out of no where, looking like a Christian twin, cutting a awesome promo in my opinion, but awkward to say the least.Edge should of done that promo, a week before WM, that would of been a perfect spot, but it wasn't needed.Boy is Brock taking in this feud perfectly. For the Kofi Kingston vs Chris Jericho match, it was great, maybe WWE will push Kofi having a great match with Y2J and maybe do something with this talented man.The whole segment with Alex Riley showing Jericho Punk possibly drinking, funny as hell, I would of opened the door all the way, and said YOUR BUSTED!!! Lord Tensai vs R-Truth was boring, but Albert did better than his past squash matches, but who the hell did Truth piss off, to get squashed? Randy Orton kidnapping Paul Bearer, man is Bearer ugly as ever, and Kane's response was not shocking to me. Cody Rhodes/Del Rio vs Big Show/Khali good lord brutual to watch at times, Del Rio and Cody made it a little watchable, did anyone see Khali coming down to the Ring, and pulling at his thigh? I soon as I saw that, I said wtf the tree stump is injured,lol.

Eve Torres please wrestle, your a fox, but my god, that dress won't get you to the top.Somewhere Moolah is rolling over in her grave, seeing the WWE use their Divas like meat, and using them like they are worth pennies! Nikki vs. Beth was boring, was that injury by Beth real, or just a work to get time off.How does a Women's Champion, never get on the show, but a girl who can only do a headscissors gets on more, ugh.I heard the Bellas could be possibly move, I doubt WWE will let them go, if they do, Bellas will have no problem making money.So Nikki winning, with that slamming outfit yum she was wearing winning the belt seems to me her winning it, and losing it days before the contract runs out.Punk and Jericho segment was hilarious, goody but it was good.Punk playing a drunk not bad, I've seen better.Sheamus vs Henry loved Bryan in it, I had a small agrument with my Dad about Daniel Bryan.

Well, my Dad doesn't like Daniel Bryan, I asked him why, he said he can't talk! I told my Dad he is a great Wrestler from ROH, and his way of speaking is working for him, especially this yes, which I imitated many times,lol.He thought it was annoying but I told my Dad being funny like Santino will get you so far, ask Eric Young, funny as hell, but he's still hasn't been taken seriously as Wrestler, this is Wrestling, if you want to be a Comedian, hit the clubs!The end with Brock Lesnar and Cena was ok, Cena looked a little weak, coming out with his lovable chain, I thought Cena doesn't fear anyone.If Cena has doubts of confidence, why would someone pay 50 bucks or so, to buy the PPV? Questions will be answered at the PPV, overall 7.5 out 10

[chappers]

Overall I thought this was a brilliant RAW, I actually feel like they should do more 3 hour RAW's just to develop more undercard feuds. We hardly see Kofi anymore when a couple years ago he would be having similar matches on a regular basis with guys like Jericho for about 10 or 15 minutes. It would also give the tag teams a slot to develop storylines there.

The Cena/Brock stuff all worked for me, liking the direction this feud is taking. Brock lobbing Josh Matthews was hilarious, I loved how Josh spoke under his breath as well, wish we'd see more of that kind of stuff with other people. Enjoyed the demands Lesnar laid down, original and really good way to get him over as a heel. I think this match at Extreme Rules is a little unpredictable as well, Cena's been losing and kind of needs this victory, at the same time Brock returning and not winning would be a little flat. John Laurinaitis sucking up to Brock was funny as well, looking forward to their segments. I can see the WWE backing out of Brocks demands in the future by firing John Laurinaitis in some form thus breaching the contract. Edge coming out worked, kind of agree with Hoho though that it would have fit in better before mania, still liked it though and it still seemed relevant.

Sheamus vs Mark Henry, D Bryan once again on top of his game, even if this match lasted about 5 minutes it was probably one of the highlights of the show, D Bryan sucking Sheamus into punching him, that kind of situation is always priceless.

Jericho/Punk stuff all worked, I could see Punk pulling out the playing card but I didn't really mind, it allowed Jericho to have plenty of mic time and going back to his old ways of winning via the cheap route.

Kane and Orton segments were alright, I feel like this feud has picked up a bit even if I still don't care that much about it. Hoping Orton can move on from Kane after Extreme Rules.

Santino and Ryder vs Epico and Primo, pretty standard, was expecting interference from the Miz given the advertisement before the match. No Miz for two or three weeks now. I hope he doesn't beat Santino in the pre-show at Extreme Rules, the guy doesn't deserve it and hasn't done anything of note for a long time.

Hated the Hornswoggle/Clay vs Ziggler/Swagger stuff. I don't mind Clay but I hate how they have aligned Hornswoggle with him and then have Swagger and Ziggler job to them weekly. Why do Ziggler and Swagger always have this treatment when they should both be in the mid card on the cusp of the main event. Both have the look, size and in ring skills to get over, with Vickie as a mouthpiece they should be given more direction if I'm honest.

One of the Bellas beating Beth don't really care although it seemed a bit half assed that Beth has this dominant title reign ended from a loss out of nowhere.

Overall this was a brilliant RAW, let down by a couple moments, but these were moments which I expected to be crap, everything else delivered or went the extra step. Hyped for Extreme Rules now.

[Awesome]

To be honest, I thought the stuff between Brock and Laurinaitis seemed to go on for too long.

Maybe it's because I wasn't a fan of his mic work, as he seemed to only be repeating himself - in which case, BRING BACK HEYMAN!

[RyPrax]

I think they may have asked Brock to stall. That promo was hard to watch at times but I think it did its job of making Brock seem like a bigger asshole. Rock comes in and steals Cena's thunder for literally a year, Brock comes in with no mic skills and Cena's over in 2 weeks lol.

Punk/Jericho stuff was fun but you knew where that fake drunk stuff was going from the moment they said they were doing a sobriety test and he'd have to give up his title. Was kinda hard to watch at times as well. Jericho's match with Jobber Kofi was pretty good though. Dunno why Kofi is  the new jobber to the stars though.

You guys know how much I love me some Funkasaurus but that tag match was fucking retarded. Give him a proper partner, make Zwaggler look strong and give them a proper match.

Team SantiBro beating Primo and Epico was interesting but it makes no sense. Santino's the US champ and facing a ghost in Miz who wasn't even around, and he beats the tag champs with a guy who's lost a ridiculous amount of steam. maybe it's a losing streak storyline for Primo & Epico but I dunno, felt weird.

I have no problem with a Bella as the champ, plus from what I hear the Beth injury is a work so they can get the title off her and Kharma can win it off the Bellas.

Overall the show was pretty meh. Three hours is almost always way too much.

[RyPrax]

This is my favorite recap of what happened with Kane and Orton. seriously couldn't stop laughing reading this:

LOL Worst: Why Does Joe Louis Arena Have A Spooky Fog Chamber

I’m gonna go ahead and lump all the Kane/Randy Orton/secretly handicapped Paul Bearer segments into one thing for the sake of economy and so I don’t have to remember how long it took for them to happen. The poor ladies of Checkbook were forced to improvisationally narrate Kane’s unfathomably long in-ring speech and after what felt like a f**king fortnight it had devolved into them going “nghhhhhhh I’m Kannneeeeee, KANEEEEEEE”. Watching the clips with audio a day later I wish I’d just stuck with that.

In fact, here’s a quick mini Best And Worst bonus round so we can keep our Kane negativity to a minimum:

Minibest: Randy Orton is only here to kidnap a guy backstage but he still doesn’t wear pants. He even has to go into a freezer!

Miniworst: So uh, has Paul Bearer been dead for the last two years or just tied to that chair? Did Randy Orton kidnap him and bring him to Detroit, or did he just find him backstage somewhere or coax him into showing up via some clandestine message sitcom style? Like, did Paul Bearer get all dressed up and fly to Detroit because he thought his old girlfriend from high school was gonna be there?

Minibest: Joe Louis Arena has a gigantic Dreamatorium room where they’re playing The Mist. I wanted a tentacle to swoop outta there and drag The Shermanator to his death. And even funnier, Joe Louis Arena has the biggest freezer ever and it’s full of smoke and colored lighting. Have you ever been IN a freezer? It’s a normal f**king room, it’s just cold.

Miniworst: Paul Bearer gets saved by Kane, only to be killed again by Kane (?) because KANE IS A MONSTER. Destiny had two theories: 1) Kane pulled Paul Bearer out and pulled the tape off his mouth so he could eat and survive in the freezer, and 2) Kane knew Paul Bearer was about to die and put him back in the freezer to preserve him until a cure could be found.

Minibest: Randy Orton and Kane are seriously feuding over who can beat up whose dad the most.

Doritos Locos Tacos Presents The Best And Worst Of WWE Raw 4/23/12

[J.D]

I didn't like Raw if I'm honest.
Jericho vs Kingston was a really enjoyable match but the presence of Hornswoggle, Zwaggler being punching bags and the overstretched ending promo bored me. As Prax said I thought the drunk Punk thing was hard to watch.
Would have been happier just watching Jericho vs Kingston and stopping at that.

[Adampro123]

I didn't like Raw if I'm honest.
Jericho vs Kingston was a really enjoyable match but the presence of Hornswoggle, Zwaggler being punching bags and the overstretched ending promo bored me. As Prax said I thought the drunk Punk thing was hard to watch.
Would have been happier just watching Jericho vs Kingston and stopping at that.

Yeah I didn't wanna be a hater so i haven't posted but i pretty much agree with this.

Though obviously i loved when punk said to Jericho "You're not even cool"

[RyPrax]

Problem is they obviously don't have enough material for 3 hours, and they don't have enough faith in their wrestlers to give us long matches, so that means overstretched promos. We literally got the contract signing twice, both times it was way too long. The Punk promo went on forever and it was arguably his low point in his entire WWE career. Not to mention the million times we saw the Brock video... it's pretty fucking ridiculous for a go home show.

[chappers]

Problem is they obviously don't have enough material for 3 hours, and they don't have enough faith in their wrestlers to give us long matches, so that means overstretched promos. We literally got the contract signing twice, both times it was way too long. The Punk promo went on forever and it was arguably his low point in his entire WWE career. Not to mention the million times we saw the Brock video... it's pretty fucking ridiculous for a go home show.

I think that point went to that match he had last year where Truth Miz and Kevin Nash interferred and it just made no sense, it wasn't a great promo I just found it funny how pathetic it was and Jericho made it entertaining.

[RyPrax]

He was pretending he was drunk after an entire life of being straight edge, and it was painfully obvious from the first clip what he was doing. None of it made sense. First of all, why would they have a "field sobriety test" in the middle of a ring in front of 15,000 people, while the guy accusing him is standing there screaming "look at him he's drunk"? Why would they not suggest a breathalizer? Why did he drag it on afterwards? Why did Alex Riley tattle on him?Why would they send Teddy out there? It was honestly the most mind boggingly absurd thing I've seen in WWE in a while.