http://www.talkwrestlingonline.com/images/shows/raw2012.png

 

When

United States: LIVE, Monday Night, April 4, at 8/7c on the USA Network

United Kingdom: Tuesday Morning, April 5, at 12AM on SkySportsHD3

 

Venue

American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX

 

Confirmed Matches/Events

 

WrestleMania Fallout

Did Shane have to win the match to have control as in the original segment Vince just said he had to have a match, not that he had to win and he picked the taker to take him out? Seems pointless to have this angle otherwise.

Edited April 5, 20168 yr by Kam

ENZO AND BIG CASS!!! XD

 

what a brilliant reaction they got!

Enzo absolutely killed that segment! Biggest pop of the night...Meanwhile the company's new top face and World Heavyweight Champion got more boo's than the League of Nations!

 

Happy to see Corbin move up and fit in, would like to see his character more based on targeting experienced veterans like when Orton had his legend killer run.

 

Jericho win at Mania makes sense now, added to a good main event last night when he got the 2 count after a code breaker allowing Styles to win (with the Styles Clash too!).

 

Think a lot of people are gonna be even more angry if/when Styles doesn't win against Reigns though....

Meanwhile the company's new top face and World Heavyweight Champion got more boo's than the League of Nations!

And he handled it all perfectly, with a great promo and how he was almost mocking those who came out to challenge him.

Here's the one thing that bugged me about Raw (apart from the crowd - the usual post-WM idiots trying to bottle lightening) is that the whole point of the Shane v Taker match was made a bit moot.

 

Vince puts Shane in the WM match because he wants him to suffer and face death so he cannot control Raw... then because Shane risked his life and suffered he then gives him control of Raw for the night.

 

Eh?

 

Reigns is going to get booed out of the building when he faces Styles... or Owens... or Cesaro... or Zayn... maybe even Jericho for that matter. But the lads got big shoulders, he seems to be taking it well.

 

Its time though for the WWE to embrace it though and own it, rather then blaming it on a post-WM crowd like they did last night they need to do what Cena did and own up that some people like Reigns (the kids and some women) and some don't (everyone else). In fact when Cena owned up to it people came round to him more, they liked the honesty and the fact that he expanded his move set and stopped having John Cena matches but actual matches.

 

WWE are booking him like Cena, his matches are decent but mainly they are becoming, Roman Reigns matches with his own five moves of doom. Maybe if he broke out the odd thing that was different (he doesn't have to go MOVEZ! crazy) and they fessed up that he is not everyone's cup of tea then things might change.

 

It's a shame because you know what, the lad could have a decent run if they just get out of the way and let him.

I thought Reigns handled it well like @DC said - will be interesting to see if the crowd reaction gets worse, especially since he'll be facing AJ.

 

I thought it was strange they decided to go with Nattie vs Charlotte, I thought Sasha would be the obvious next contender.

 

Surprised to see Apollo on the main show already!

 

Are we getting a Wyatts/League of Nations feud? Because the very idea bores me let alone seeing anything!

 

It looks like Los Matadores are being repacked with a gimmick similar to Carlito, I was totally expecting them to be dropped. WWE seem to have the biggest tag division I can remember:

 

New Day

The Usos

The Dudleys

The Lucha Dragons

The Asension

Enzo and Cass

Primo and Epico

 

Then you could also include The Wyatts, League of Nations and The Social Outcasts! Plus you've got teams like The Revival, Blake/Murphy, Vaudevillains and American Alpha down in NXT also!

 

It looks like we're going to get a Owens/Zayn feud but I don't see why it couldn't have been over the IC title - surely that would have done more good (for the title) than whoever Miz will end up going against.

Vince gave Shane control of Raw for the night because in Vince's mind he's certain Shane would screw it up and it'll be a complete disaster. But it's actually a good episode, with some fan favourites getting a chance in the main event to grab themselves a title shot.

 

I think it's a pretty shrewd way of testing the waters of what Raw under Shane could be like, by judging critical reception and fan reaction to the episode.

 

If I was booking Raw, I'd have Vince come out next week just to compound that he's back in charge, have him comment about how awful he thought the Raw after Mania was, and how Shane's an idiot for putting guys like Zayn, Cesaro, Owens and Styles in the main event. That should generate some goodwill with the fans towards those guys, while making them yearn for Shane to take over, and want Vince out.

 

The big problem then is what do you do with Reigns? Do you have him side with Vince over Shane? He's not gonna get the desired fan reaction anyways, so why not side him Vince at this point? The best thing that ever happened to The Rock was him having his forced babyface push halted and being flipped to a heel role instead. Maybe that kind of move could work for Reigns in this instance?

 

It's pretty apparent we're heading to a Shane vs Vince Monday Night War brewing, which is a really great way to finally transition from the old WWE of people pining for the Attitude Era, to a new era that will predominantly feature guys like Cesaro, Zayn, Owens, Balor, Enzo & Cass, Charlotte, Becky, Sasha, Bayley, Joe, Nakamura, and so many others that I can't be bothered to list them all.

 

The hopeful part of me thinks that by putting the title on Reigns at the same time as they start this storyline with Shane wanting to reinvigorate Raw and pull it from his out of touch old man's hands, could possibly mean we could be in the transitional period of WWE entering a new "era".

The best thing that ever happened to The Rock was him having his forced babyface push halted and being flipped to a heel role instead. Maybe that kind of move could work for Reigns in this instance?

I think it worked for Rock because of his confidence/mic work, the below interview was from around 6 months after his first heel turn. Still not great but you can see how good he was/how much he developed from his debut:

 

If anyone doesn't remember what he was like in 1996:

 

I don't know how much better Reigns could get on the mic, I can still see see fans booing him for the sake of it rather than for anything he's doing. It's a tough one.

You're right, Reigns is nowhere near as awesome on the mic as The Rock was, but if they turn Reigns heel and let him stick to his basic "I'm gonna kick your a*s" promo, then rough people up he should be fine.

the whole "I'm THE guy" promo begs for him to slam the fans at some point, what Roman has is an air of smugness about him that makes it incredibly easy to dislike him. He simply needs to come out and state he doesn't give two shits whether the crowd boo him or cheer him, he wins regardless. "I'm not the good guy, I'm not the bad guys and I'm damn sure not YOUR guy".

 

I think he could side with Vince but we've just had Rollins do that for a long time, I think if they did make him a heel champ they should attempt to make him his own champ. It should then be possible that at some point they find someone the crowd hates even more they can naturally turn him face since the crowd have been allowed to vent their frustrations on his initial push.