Shhhhh...Truth's hunting for Mizzes!!! I feel like we're all getting got these past couple of months. 
wwe vs tnt anyone watching?
- Thread starter timothy
- Start date
J
Jetfire
Guest
We all got GOT! 
Meh.
I have to disagree. I'll admit that Jericho's return wasn't what I hoping for, but it was new, different, and interesting. I mean, He managed to turn the crowd against him without saying a word, despite that he was (sarcastically) pandering to them.
I should explain something though. When I say that his return wasn't what I was expecting, it's fair to say that it wasn't what anyone was expecting; which is what makes it so good. Chris Jericho is arguably the best in the world on a mic, and he's proven it over and over again throughout the years.
The vignettes had teased us and gotten us talking, and right up until the end there were people out there that were a 100% sure it was going to be the Undertaker, or Goldberg, or even Brock Lesnar on 1/2/12. I don't know if there has been more curiosity/interest about a returning wrestler since Jericho's return in 2007.
Now, 1/2/12 has come and gone and we still don't know what Jericho's in-character motivations are. For him to tease us by picking up the mic and then dropping it is simply unheard of from Jericho. Hell, it's unheard of in all of professional wrestling.
I think we can safely say that Jericho is returning as a heel, and Jericho has gone on record several times that he hates it when he's cheered as a heel. If he had used the mic and given a classic heel Jericho promo, the crowd would have cheered for him. If he went on a rant/diatribe about the state of WWE, and the crowd would have still cheered for him and I suspect several people in this very thread would be saying now that he was simply attempting to imitate what Punk did in July.
The truth is, in the end he trolled us.
Yes. he did.
He trolled us, and left us wondering "WTF". Yet, still wanting more.
I said essentially this same thing elsewhere, but, although the Jericho segment was odd, I'm still going to be tuning in for as long as I still have cable TV in order to see where they're going with this, because, given who Jericho is and the mentality he has towards wrestling, last night's odd segment is most definitely going to be leading to something, whether it is Chris using his odd return and the crowd's reaction to it as part of his character without any reasoning behind why he did what he did or Chris actually giving us an explanation as to why he did what he did and what his cryptic return promos have to do with his agenda.
The other thing about last night's RAW that I found a bit odd was the main event. It's pretty obvious that Mark Henry is legitimately hurt and really isnt in any state to wrestle, so I'm puzzled as to why he continues to be booked into matches, and why they chose to use/book the main event the way that they did vis a vis this whole thing with Kane and Cena given that you essentially had a main event that consisted of Jack Swagger getting jobbed to 3 guys for the sole purpose of having Kane do a really bizarre and unexplained re-enactment of what his brother The Undertaker did to Edge at SummerSlam a couple of years ago.
The other thing about last night's RAW that I found a bit odd was the main event. It's pretty obvious that Mark Henry is legitimately hurt and really isnt in any state to wrestle, so I'm puzzled as to why he continues to be booked into matches, and why they chose to use/book the main event the way that they did vis a vis this whole thing with Kane and Cena given that you essentially had a main event that consisted of Jack Swagger getting jobbed to 3 guys for the sole purpose of having Kane do a really bizarre and unexplained re-enactment of what his brother The Undertaker did to Edge at SummerSlam a couple of years ago.
Henry is hurt for real which is why Vince decided to make the title switch and then have Bryan cash in his money in the bank contract. The end of the six man tag match was just...meh. I think I must be the most disgruntled about the way things are right now, I'm ranting more about it and being overly critical. I just feel though very strongly that the buzz and hype and interest that they had back in July...simply isn't there now. WWE seems to be doing their damndest to recapture that spirit and atmosphere but keep on botching things. I like to have my attention actually enthralled and be entertained by what's going on. All I see is flaws and failed potential story lines. Frankly they've a lot of guys absolutely doing nothing and feuds I'm not very interested in. Sheamus Vs Miz would be an excellent match and an excellent promo but they just had to pick that spot to have Truth interfere. Sigh. I do like the Bella Twins though 
@timothy the WWE Network is debuting in April after Wrestlemania.
@timothy the WWE Network is debuting in April after Wrestlemania.
The only thing I can think of is that Kane has a few more years in the business (5-7 years at the outside) than the one more match we might (or might not) get out of 'Taker. Booking him as more of a Monster (note the capital "m") than before might be their way of attempting to "pass the torch" (if you will) from the mythic near-unstoppable zombie Undertaker and maybe create the near-unstoppable demon/monster Kane. I will point out that Kane did go over last time they had a match of any consequence.
Course, I say that and can't help but think that they've tried to book him more strongly several times in the past years and simply failed at it, or simply used him to build up others at his expense.
Good ol' J.R.: "Buh-Gawd! Have you ever seen the monster, Kane man-handled like this before??!!"
King: "I'm sorry, J.R.! I completely tuned you out, I was busy objectifying the Divas and demeaning Vickie Guerrero... 'cause she's FAT! Is there a match going on or something?"
Cole: "I swear to God. I have never. Seen. Anything. like this before! And also,Daniel Bryan is an undeserving NERD!"
Doesn't Cole's heel hatred of Bryan stem from Tough Enough or Next or whatever? Also I'm surprised that Lawler didn't quip back that Bryan was trained by Shawn Michaels, among others to counter Cole's rant about Cody's legacy.
I miss heel Lawler.
I miss heel Lawler.
Yeah, NXT season 1. I loved when Cole was recently telling Booker T that as a broadcast commentator he has no business involving himself in matches. And I immediately thought back to shortly after The Miz won the WWE Title; when Lawler had gotten a title-shot.
Okay. After reading this article I'm convinced that Jericho is a heel. This might be more interesting than I originally gave it credit for. I think Chris knows exactly what he was doing last night if the rest of us didn't.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...urns-to-mixed-reaction-and-kane-strikes-again
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...urns-to-mixed-reaction-and-kane-strikes-again
You misread what I was trying to say. It is fine that they re-used the same thing they did with The Undertaker and Edge; the issue I had with the whole thing is that they tacked it onto the end of a match that really shouldn't have been booked the way that it was, which made the segment itself feel odd.
If WWE creative knew they were going to do the segment that ended RAW, there should have been different participants in the six-man tag team match, at least on the heel side of things, because, as I've already pointed out, Mark Henry is legitimately injured and really shouldn't be competing, and by not having Kane in the match, you tacked his segment onto the end of what was essentially a 3-on-1 squash match, which robs the ending segment of some of the 'oomph' and impact it could've had otherwise.
Well part of booking that match had to do with playing along with John L's continued attempt at being "innovated". I have to admit I did chuckle after his expression how pleased he was with his booking lol. Yeah it is really amazing how many things WWE recycles or rehashes. I think Admiral M has made this point earlier in the thread. John L reminds me of Coach when he was elevated to Executive Assistant and made interim Raw General Manager back in the day.
I'm guessing they are going to milk out John L's role right now and not actually go on a specific search. Also seriously...shouldn't Triple H be actively regaining his authority and power? This whole story line has been dropped!!!! You've got John L still interfering in Punk's matches causing losses or DQ's. I really don't get what they're doing right now with a lot of stuff.
I'm guessing they are going to milk out John L's role right now and not actually go on a specific search. Also seriously...shouldn't Triple H be actively regaining his authority and power? This whole story line has been dropped!!!! You've got John L still interfering in Punk's matches causing losses or DQ's. I really don't get what they're doing right now with a lot of stuff.
Using a guy like Henry in that six-man tag team match really is independent of what they're doing with Laurenitis, because you could still have done the whole 'I'm attempting to be innovative even though I really suck' scthick without having to use a guy like Henry. The Miz could have very easily been booked into that match in Henry's place without disrupting his current storyline with R-Truth, and you then wouldn't have had the issue of tacking the Kane segment onto the end of a 3-on-1 squash match that made Swagger look ridiculous and robbed the Kane segment of some of its 'oomph' and impact.
Guys working injured or tired doesn't really matter to Vince. I remember we talked about this very subject earlier last year when it was reported that Cena was hurt badly and burnt out but he still was booked into story lines and still continued to work the schedule. Unless it is a very serious injury then you are gonna still work. I believe Henry has some kind of ankle problem. It also has to do with a lack of depth or trust in their roster right now in my opinion.
The thing is, it's visibly obvious that Henry can't work with that ankle injury. They really need to write him off of TV even if it means they're 'shorthanded', because the more they keep using him, the more risk they run of him getting even more injured than he already is.
I agree with you...another problem is that the WWE is already suffering from a boat load of major injuries right now.
No the Supershow is not due to the injuries, has nothing to do with that at all. It was reported earlier in the thread why Vince decided to make Raw a supershow.
I'm kind of surprised that Kharma wasn't given her release when she announced she was pregnant. IIRC, Dawn Marie was given her release a few years for this reason. It's the sort of shitty thing that WWE does from time to time and isn't exactly within the realms of "employee rights", however since WWE legally considers it's employees as "independent contracters", they can get away with a lot.
To be fair though, things have got much better. I'm pleased with the WWE funded rehabilitation program that the company has adopted, along with the wellness policy. Although it's not without it's share of controversy, I believe that the wellness policy has been one of the best things that WWE has done in years with regards to the health and wellbeing of it's performers.
Prior to the wellness policy, many of the experts were estimating that 75% of the WWE roster were using enhancement supplements, some more than others. The deaths of Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit gave WWE a serious wake up call and has encouraged them to make the health of their performers a primary concern.
I think many of WWE's performers go by the ethic of "if I can still work, then an injury isn't important". Whether or not the company encourages this is unknown, but given that they haven't released people who have been out with injury from their contracts in a few years, it's safe to say that their stance has improved.