I didn't feel like doing a "Keg Stand" this week but I also didn't want to skip a week so here's my "Keg Stand". Everyone has been asking me about how I currently feel about WWE Monday Night RAW. Okay that was a lie...no one has been asking me that but I am going to tell you my thoughts whether you want to read them or not.
I am going to be very honest...RAW has been very boring in the last several weeks. The feuds are boring, the storylines are boring, and the matches are boring. The storyline involving Kevin Nash, Triple H, CM Punk, and John Laurinaitis was interesting at first but now that stuff is boring. It will probably lead to a Kevin Nash vs. Triple H match which sounds cool but the actual match will probably be horrible. As for the other storylines, I like The Miz and R-Truth but they don't seem like an elite tag-team. Therefore, The Rock and John Cena vs. The Miz and R-Truth doesn't seem like an epic match. I would have been just as excited for The Rock and John Cena vs. Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal. I'm interested in the CM Punk-Alberto Del Rio storyline but only because I want CM Punk to win the WWE Championship. Those are pretty much all of the main RAW storylines right now and all of them are mediocre at best. The match-ups are okay but the actual stories are weak. If The Rock wasn't going to be on RAW this Monday, I wouldn't really be looking forward to watching RAW. The WWE is not giving me enough reasons to tune in each week. A good way for the WWE to do that is by having great main event finishes to RAW and those have been really weak recently. Last Monday's main event was John Cena and Zack Ryder vs. The Miz and R-Truth. Ryder and R-Truth have improved a lot since last year but I don't think either of them should be in the main event. The main events need to be better. It needs to be something so interesting that I will have no choice but to watch all of RAW until the main event and end of the main event needs to make me wonder what will happen next. The main events last Summer were really good. Now, they are mediocre.
That's all I have to say about RAW right now. It needs to get better. I want to see better storylines and better main events. Guys like Zack Ryder shouldn't be in the main event. Last month, I wrote a column about five RAW episodes before the end of 2011 that looked interesting. One of them already happened which was the Muppets RAW on Halloween. There are four left and a good honorable mention is the December 12 RAW because that RAW will probably feature the Slammy Awards. RAW has several chances to improve before 2011 is over. If RAW doesn't improve this year, we might have to wait until after the Royal Rumble before RAW starts getting interesting again.
Ryder in the main event all the time wouldn't be good, but his part in last week's was a good rub for him. That's one way to get people over. While they did "lose", he more than held his own. The biggest thing about the match was that Cena was actually happy about Ryder being his partner. That helps put Ryder over with casual fans that can't might not have been quite ready to get into him. If he defeats Ziggler for the title, I can see him getting even more main event matches. I would add another wrinkle to his character, making him more serious within the next six months. I think Ryder and AJ would be a good on-screen couple. He's got that super excited vibe going and she's rather geeky. It would be a good match.
ReplyDeleteAs for Truth, I see him as mid to upper mid-card. For that, I can see him main eventing a PPV from time to time, but not winning. Main eventing a RAW or SD quite often and winning every now and then, but not clean.
I wouldn't mind seeing AJ and Ryder as a couple but I would make it a dark storyline. AJ and Zack are a couple and everything is great until Zack finds AJ making out with Jack Swagger in the locker room. Zack gets mad and tells Swagger that if he ever sees him again, he will kill him.
ReplyDeleteThe next day on RAW, Zack is on RAW but via satellite on a bridge. Zack has a bag and he pulls out a stuffed animal. He says AJ gave it to him for their one month anniversary. He loved it but not anymore so he pulls out a knife out of the bag and starts stabbing the stuffed animal. Then he throws it over the bridge. Zack then says that AJ better stay away from Zack because he will keep the knife on him and he won't be afraid to use it again.
Then next week on RAW, AJ gets a package. She opens it and it's a photo of her and Zack but AJ's photo is defaced and the message below says, "You broke my heart...stay away from me or I will break your neck. Woo Woo Woo...You Know It!"
Then Swagger challenges Zack to a match and if Swagger wins then Zack must threatening AJ. Swagger wins and then everything goes back to normal like nothing happened.
That sounds...lovely.
ReplyDeleteAn AJ/Kaitlyn affair would be much hotter.
damn...that would be better. I need to do some re-writes.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The few Raws I have seen have been a bit boring but I thought it was just me since I had to catch up on alot of wrestling lately.
ReplyDeleteI'm just hoping for a Swagger/Kermit match at WM.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna start turning the channel if Zack Ryder continues to be in the main event. Right now, there is only two RAWs I am really looking forward to this year: tomorrow The Rock and maybe Mick Foley and of course the December 26 CM Punk homecoming RAW that will feature yours truly in attendance.
ReplyDeleteIf you do that, it's on you, not the show. The problem is so many people won't give shit a chance even over the smallest details.
ReplyDeleteI like Ryder but i agree with Tony, he should not be in the main event, At least not yet. Think about it from a casual fans perspective, as far as they know he just showed up and is some goofy guy fist pumping in the main event.
ReplyDeleteRyder in the main event, during a tag match is done to push him. Nothing more. I buy him doing this every now and then. I'm not going to change the channel over something that petty. How else do we get to know if he's ready unless he goes up against the top stars? He got over on the net. They put him on tv. He got over on tv. They push him even more and guess what? He was over like a rover. If he were to start getting WWE Tile shots, I could understand, but he was in a tag match with Cena...and the fans are into him. That's WWE sticking their toe into the water just to see what type of reaction he would get. They're trying to create new stars.
ReplyDelete@ Chadam
ReplyDeleteI agree. A lot of fans don't follow the WWE with the internet. I wasn't a IWC fan in 1999-2002. My first memories of reading about the WWE on the internet was in the summer of 2008 when I thought some dude on YouTube had inside connections with the WWE because he was able to predict that The Great Khali would win a SD battle royal and become #1 contender for the WHC before it happened on TV. Then I found out that spoilers for every Smackdown are available on the internet. I started reading wrestling websites like LOP and WZ sometime in 2009.
I'm getting off-topic...back to Zack Ryder. There are fans who ONLY follow the WWE via TV and not only didn't know Mick Foley was back in the WWE until last night but probably also didn't know Foley was in TNA. Hell, they don't even know what TNA is. They must think that Jeff Hardy, Ric Flair, and Mickie James have been taking time off from wrestling since leaving the WWE. So these fans see Zack Ryder exactly as you say...some goofy fist pumping idiot. To them, he's the guy who lost to Sheamus in five seconds last year...not the "Internet Champion".
Those same fans are probably wondering what's so great about Daniel Bryan. He lost every match in NXT and has lost like 70% of his matches in the WWE. What has he done besides beating The Miz at NOC 2010 and winning Money in the Bank (ironically both of them were in Chicago and I was in attendance)?
@ Capt. Smooth
ReplyDeleteThe "change the channel" comment was not serious. I regret that I stopped watching the WWE for SEVEN YEARS. I missed the entire Brock Lesnar era, the Eric Bischoff era, heel John Cena, and most of HBK's second stint in the WWE. I'm not going to make that mistake again anytime soon.
I wonder how far does the IWC want Zack Ryder to go. I always thought they just wanted him on TV more. Does anyone want Zack Ryder to be the WWE Champion? That would be some story if that ever happened...going from nearly future endeavored to WWE Champion.
Most casual fans aren't going to remember Ryder losing to Sheamus in 5 seconds. Hell, a couple years ago Punk jobbed to Cena in a few minutes.
ReplyDeleteTony, the IWC will turn on Ryder, because he is getting over with casual fans. They did the same thing to Cena, Orton, and they are already doing it to Punk. The internet has a hipster vibe running through it. It's easier to mobalize hate. Rock, Austin, Hogan, Hart would've never gotton nearly as popular if the IWC were around then, because the IWC would never allow them to. Cena got boos about 4 months after winning the title for the first time. This is the modern wrestling fan world.
ReplyDelete"Hell, a couple years ago Punk jobbed to Cena in a few minutes. "
ReplyDeleteI don't remember that.
It was on RAW a couple years ago, maybe three. It lasted 3 to 4 minutes. But that's the thing, Mark Henry used to job to people quickly and now he's a champion. There are ebbs and flows.
ReplyDeleteAs for Mark Henry, the thought about him is that he's not the same guy he was for the last 15 years and as hard to believe as that is, somehow I believe it. I guess if they can make me forget about 15 mediocre Mark Henry years, I guess it isn't impossible to make me forget about one awful Zack Ryder match.
ReplyDeleteBingo! Hell, there are old videos of Cena pre-rap gimmick where is beat in a few minutes.
ReplyDelete