WWE Raw celebrates its 25th Anniversary with a special edition broadcast from both the Barclays Center and Manhattan Center in New York City. Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon reunite face to face, The Bálor Club “Too Sweets” DX & The Kliq, The Undertaker returns, the APA host a poker game involving a random assortment of legends, Roman Reigns vs The Miz for the IC title, ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy vs Bray Wyatt, and a number of stars return to little fanfare.
Keep It 2000’s Brain Mann joins us for a live report from the Barclays Center.
We line out the allegations surrounding Enzo Amore that have led to his indefinite suspension from the WWE.
I must admit that I have no idea how this show could have been good.
I don’t mean to be a downer but you have a show that’s focusing on dozens of legends who are so far past their prime that they just don’t ‘feel’ like their characters anymore. They can’t put on an entertaining match (obviously) but they also just don’t have it on the mic anymore either (with very few exceptions).
I’m big on nostalgia but I’m not big on watching old people trying to relive nostalgia. This is as true for me regarding WWE as it is in the movies. Again, might not be a popular opinion but I had a tough time watching Han Solo in Star Wars 7 despite the respectable treatment he was given in that movie.
I will admit that the Austin/Vince opener was far better than I ever thought it could be. Vince is still a brilliant talker and this was a simple revisit of a segment we’ve seemingly seen a hundred times before. There was a small handful of moments that made me smile beyond this but it amounts to less than 30 minutes of a 3 hour show.
If you ask me to fantasy book a show like this and make it good? I’d completely fail.
I don’t know how you celebrate past and present when it comes to wrestling.
When production teams put together nostalgic clips then it completely and utterly works. When you show me an old man Hunter and Michaels trying to pull of DX live at their age it completely and utterly fails.
It would disappoint a lot of people to have an anniversary show with ‘memories’ via production clips over a regular Raw that really pushed the Rumble but that’s probably what I would have wanted most. Showcase your product by delivering better than normal wrestling and matches. The Miz vs Roman was my highlight of the night and I’m someone in my mid-30’s whose followed wrestling since around Wrestlemania 3.
The show could have worked… with the nostalgia acts interacting with the new talent.
Like have Austin say he’s going to call out the toughest man on Raw… Have Brock and Hey man react.
Then Austin calls out Braun… but not for a fight… to put him over and drink a beer… Brock and Paul not happy, we got some back and forth and a brawl.
You could of had DiBiase stage a buyout of Titus Worldwide.
This shit ain’t hard.
Even the layout of the show should have been simpler. 90 minutes at Manhatten then 90 Minutes at Barclay. What doesn’t make air at each location, film and air on the network.
Less people booked would have made the show easier to script and prepare. They could have done more with those said legends. There were so many fun encounters, call backs to do and we barely got that. Throwing everyone at random into meaningless segments is not doing the wrestlers or the show any favour. WWE seems to think that more is more (look at those 5 hours PPV’s). I’m sorry but more in quantity means less in quality (look at the NXT PPV’s, short and sweet).
Advertising everybody is just a bad idea. You’re watering the importance of SCSA or Vince being there when you mention them next to MVP or Harvey Wippleman. Like Pollock said, just advertise the big names and have the lesser guys as a surprise pop. I always remember the pop Rock and SCSA got during the opening segment of WM 30 with Hogan, just because they weren’t advertised!
This was the first time I’ve been truly looking forward to Raw in a while… maybe since the four-way for the vacant Universal Title in 2016 (Owens/Rollins/Reigns/Big Cass… remember him?). I loved the opening segment, but I decided to call it a night when the Wyatt/Hardy match started. Caught the rest of the show on my DVR this morning, and I don’t regret my decision to turn in early one bit.
Yep. Miz cuts a promo and says he’s going after his 8th IC title ever, is the greatest IC champ of all time. Jericho intervenes as the 9-time winner. You could still do his interaction with Elias later.
Bar/Rollins-Jordan segment - have the Dudleys come out. Maybe you have Jeff Hardy and Christian come out after as reps of two other legendary tag teams, put over the tag division. Put the Revival in that segment too (rather than having them get punked out by the entire Kliq).
There are other options besides endless poker game where most of the talking is done by either Heath Slater or Dana Brooke.
Sorry to be negative but I found this show awful after all the hype the booking and the writing …it’s like is that it !!! Even the opening I cringed at and found awful,it doesn’t help being a uk resident and stayed up for it …Now had a tired and grumpy Tuesday
Best wwe news of the day is enzo getting fired …I need coffee
To be fair as Wai mentioned a 24 special i would like to see but i wont is the ideas creative came to the legends and having them shut down by the performers since they don’t have to be worried about being employed the next day.
I feel like Jericho probably rejected a few ideas before settling on the segment he did. I Don;t have that much of a problem with the card game segments at least creative tried and semi involved people except alot of people were randomly sitting there i shrugged it off as it was live tv and they had a time crunch but to learn they were pretaped they could have done a better job on getting everyone’s coverage.
MVP I think is one of the most underrated talents WWE has had in the last 20 years i would love for him to have a rumble spot or a run again but he didn’t do himself any favors last night.
The most stupidest part was having a roll call for General managers and the Women
They could have done many things with them my idea which isn’t the best but better then what they did at least which would be have kurt come out (which reminds me very few legends other then genric lumberjacks came out infront of the live audience in Brooklyn) but have him thank the fans and wwe for his position and to thank past gm’s and then have them come out and say for keeping the show and the brand alive 25 years i will let you have one final general manger edict and they in script can plan a match or whatever and have those happen over the falling weeks of raw and you have some before the fact advertising.
For the women i would have had a current wwe women’s superstar interviewed or going to some Womens legend asking for advice the crowd pans over we see the person they get a pop say a line or two would be 5 or so 45 second segments that utilizes the talents better.
Lastly i feel that they should have reversed the show lets assume they did the exact same show they did but have raw open as it did in the Manhattan center DX comes out do what they did. then go to brooklyn due the Brock Kane and Brawn thing have them be thrown out of the building rest of the night or whatever to explain they are done for the night there you have your big segments to start the show. I think people would be rally digging that and would be able to sit on what happened a little better knowing taker still coming and Austin as well
then have Austin and Vince close the show. Therefore you haven’t seen the best thing of the night already and everything is being compared to it plus you leave everyone going home happy and you kind of forget the bad segments that came from before.
I feel doing that one simple thing in the script would have made the show better
Also doing the two venue thing i cant see how nobody new that would be a logistics nightmare i figured with it being so close that we would see many faces at each place we didn’t. But Like Wrestle-mania 2 it was hampered from multiple locations. They should have taped from The Manhattan center on sunday night and edited in best parts of the show and with little spoilers coming out in 20 hours and not knowing what would be included or not or have it recorded on the 11th and who cares what spoilers got out it would been a full show edited down to piece together with Brooklyn
And Thanks John I was surprised they did not set up anything with taker and i felt that was an in character retirement speech as he did not have gloves on and all the entrance gimmick stuff wasn’t done. I Wonder why they did not do that? But you made me look at it like i beat everyone i have nothing to prove so Cena or someone else can call him out and say you haven’t beat me or something to that. Also if something was done it would affect the rumble and a big name not winning. Still think he is retired however but there is hope now! Also not sure on Cena Dates but I wouldn’t be surprised if Elias is Cena Program for mania! They given him a lot and elias is big guy something Vince likes and i can see Vince getting that idea in his head and running with it no matter what.
Random weird thought I wonder if they didn’t have Austin talk last night is because of the news of Enzo and the other cases happening in Hollywood they don’t want the Stone Cold and Debra story hitting (no pun intended) main stream media again they got off lightly the last time. they wanted Austin to make an impact in the wrestling world but not one large enough to make main stream media headlines then gives Debra a chance to re tell her story.
One good segment in 3 hours is not enough I’m afraid. It’s really frustrating that WWE has that much money, power and control and does not know how to use it.
There’s a lot to be said for ending on a high though; look at last year’s SummerSlam - overlong and dull, but finished strong so no one calls it the worst show of the year. It wasn’t, but it was a bad year for the B-shows in WWE too.
I genuinely think that Vince has dementia and is approving bad booking because he just doesn’t recognise it. I’ve said it elsewhere but I honestly believe that Great Balls of Fire was called that because Vince forgot the name of the Great American Bash and simply doubled down on it when know one called him out for the mistake. He’s losing it.
