WWE: Monday Night Raw 145 - Oh, Shane is so gonna pay for this...

[These Are The Days]

Del Rio and Sheamus have awesome music though.

I've noticed that crowds respond very heavily to loud, sudden noises at the beginning of entrance themes. Lesnar's opening reverberation, Stone Cold's glass break, Punk's static noise, the Rock's music because there would be that brief quiet pause after "If ya smell..." and even Rollins' heart racing drum line will startle you even if you're expecting it.

Now, I could just be making **** up but I've always felt guys like Cena and Orton always got lesser pops in their entrance but were put over by Vince because of the pop they would get during the matches would be second to none with "RKO" and "Let's go Cena/Cena sucks!"

 

[Shoalzie]

Can someone give me a non-smakrWhat answer... What is the in-ring appeal of Finn Balor?

He's very slight of build...hard to believe he can legitimately beat guys the size of Roman or Brock or Samoa Joe.

He's quick and athletic...probably more of a cruiserweight but they seen to think of him as a top of the card guy. Rollins, Bryan and Punk worked as middleweight top guys.

 

[Acallabeth]

One more thing about Balor, I really wish the WWE took one more step and made the Demon gimmick more than a paint.
Make a backstory about Finn having suffered some psychological trauma while he was working in the Far East, that forced him to learn meditation, which he now uses to create a mind alteration. That altered state of mind reduces his pain tolerance, quickens recovery etc., so it's handy for wrestling, but it leaves a mark on his personality, so he doesn't use it often (as he doesn't want to become a heartless heel). Finn warpainting himself could be a part of his ritual, so at least he would believe himself that the paint works - that would instantly make it matter a lot more and create a long term vector in Finn's storylines.
I understand it's probably a bit turpid and "mystical" for the WWE, but hey, they have Bray Wyatt.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

A lot of Finn Balor's appeal isn't going to be seen until two things...he does the demon entrance at Summerslam and when he inevitably reforms the Club with Gallows and Anderson. Face Finn is kind of bland. His in-ring moves aren't anything ridiculous but I do like the dropkick into the corner bit that generally sets up the coup de grace. I can see why people may think that he's bland or question his appeal at this point. Same for Zayn because they honestly haven't given them much of an opportunity on the mic or in non-ring segments to really put him over or humanize them. They've done some stuff for Zayn with Owens to show their personal friendship but nothing that was separate from that.

With Zayn, he's already put on two match of the year candidates with Owens and Nakamura so that alone is going to get him over but he has the mic skills to back it up if they give him the material and time. I think Balor will be tougher to get over as a face but if he doesn't, he definitely will as a heel.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Sami also has more natural charisma.

 

[UnrealMachine]

He's very slight of build...hard to believe he can legitimately beat guys the size of Roman or Brock or Samoa Joe.

He's quick and athletic...probably more of a cruiserweight but they seen to think of him as a top of the card guy. Rollins, Bryan and Punk worked as middleweight top guys.

Balor walks around at like 7-8% body fat, consistently. CM Punk struggled to get to 15% at his very best. If Punk had as low of a body fat % as Balor, he would look a lot smaller. Similar with Bryan, but he at least had more muscle & strength. Bryan had a much better build/look when he was leaner.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Balor walks around at like 7-8% body fat, consistently. CM Punk struggled to get to 15% at his very best. If Punk had as low of a body fat % as Balor, he would look a lot smaller. Similar with Bryan, but he at least had more muscle & strength. Bryan had a much better build/look when he was leaner.

And Bryan had issues maintaining it because of his diet requirements. Finn Balor is like Neville in terms of build but a little less muscular. They're both pretty damn ripped. People also have to remember that this was his debut and they only let him do so much to impress. They haven't really scratched the surface of the Finn Balor appeal yet. That's going to take some time and a lot will probably be revealed in the build to Summerslam and at Summerslam itself. The question should be whether they're going to put the strap on Balor to validate him immediately or give him adversity. There's good arguments for either side really.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I hate the squash matches. Like, it'a 2016, we know how wrestling works. We know this guy is supposed to be a monster heel, and even if we didn't what does murdering some out of shape amateur that literally no one on the planet has ever heard of do?

It's not impressive and borderline insulting to the fans. I don't care about Braun Strowman, why are you forcing me to watch him pretend to beat up some guy I don't care about? Have him put Mark Henry through a table, or beat up the Dudleys 2-on-1 and maybe I'll care.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Y'all already know how I feel about babyface Balor.

Doesn't mean last night wasn't awesome, though.

 

[UnrealMachine]

And Bryan had issues maintaining it because of his diet requirements. Finn Balor is like Neville in terms of build but a little less muscular. They're both pretty damn ripped. People also have to remember that this was his debut and they only let him do so much to impress. They haven't really scratched the surface of the Finn Balor appeal yet. That's going to take some time and a lot will probably be revealed in the build to Summerslam and at Summerslam itself. The question should be whether they're going to put the strap on Balor to validate him immediately or give him adversity. There's good arguments for either side really.

It's really genetics over diet. Bryan gained a lot of weight compared to his rookie year in WWE, presumably to look more like a heavyweight contender. He was already about maxed out in terms of muscle size on his frame without steroids, so any marginal gains in muscle that he gained were accompanied with larger gains in body fat. He had quite the muffin top going in his prime. He didn't really have that much more muscle though than he did when he was lean.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I hate the squash matches. Like, it'a 2016, we know how wrestling works. We know this guy is supposed to be a monster heel, and even if we didn't what does murdering some out of shape amateur that literally no one on the planet has ever heard of do?

It's not impressive and borderline insulting to the fans. I don't care about Braun Strowman, why are you forcing me to watch him pretend to beat up some guy I don't care about? Have him put Mark Henry through a table, or beat up the Dudleys 2-on-1 and maybe I'll care.

What does it do? If you understand how wrestling works then you wouldn't have asked such a question. Squashing a jobber is just an exhibition of whoever is doing the squashing. That's it. It doesn't need to be more than that all the time. And in a lot of cases, when a heel is squashing some jabroni, it's hilarious. At some point, they probably will put someone like Henry through a table or something like that but there's nothing wrong with building towards that. It doesn't have to be given away like that or begun at that level. I enjoyed that match. If you just have a quick five minute segment to fill, that's how you do it instead of putting two full-time talents in there for a quick match that does nothing for anyone. Squash matches at least can give some kind of impression in that time frame.

 

[GKJ]

Squash matches happen all the time in NXT, difference is they go a bit longer, but not many people complain about it.

 

[PBandJ]

Russo: Balor Defeating Roman Reigns And Rusev Was The Nail In The Coffin For Me

Apparently Russo wasn't a fan

His rant is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read too.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

If Russo didn't like it, it proves it was great.

 

[BonMorrison]

Neville's upper body is ridic.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Of course Russo wouldn't like it.


It would have been something if they had Reigns turn heel on Balor after the match.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Of course Russo wouldn't like it.


It would have been something if they had Reigns turn heel on Balor after the match.

Russo for some reason has this 'if it were a shoot fight' mentality going on lately. Outside of the fact that it's hypocritical for him to criticize anyone using this mentality when he made David Arquette champion, that's not how wrestling works anymore. Hell, how many shoot fights would you expect Chris Jericho to win or Steve Austin or HBK or Bret Hart to win? If it were a shoot fight contest, there's two things. One, you can watch MMA. Two, someone like The Undertaker probably would've been champ the whole time with the occasional pass-off to Kane or the Big Show during the Attitude Era. A shoot fight would get pretty boring pretty quick if it were the norm.

I agree to some extent with his concerns about storyline progressions and characters but booking a match as if it were a shoot fight is an unbelievably stupid idea. You don't put butts in the seats by putting on shoot fights or booking matches in that mentality and then in the next breath talk about fake wrestling. People come to watch the performance as if it is an art these days. Booking decisions need to be based on who performs the art the best and who gets the best reactions. Not necessarily who makes it the most real or who would be the best in a would-be shoot wrestling match. That's the same mindset that brought about the disaster that was the Brawl-For-All. Not a necessarily horrible concept but a poorly executed thing.

 

[Kimi]

So I saw the title of this thread before I watch this afternoon. I doubted accuracy of it as this is Raw, and Raw generally sucks. But no, it was indeed the best show ever. 10/10. Would watch awesome TV show again.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Two years ago she's on stage at Wrestlemania as one of the girls for Triple H's entrance before his match with Daniel Bryan.

And now he's the first one there when she wins the title on Raw.

 

[Ensane]

Great show. I won't repeat the finer points already discussed here, but what really stood out to me was the entire show's flow was just so on-point. Not only the pacing of the show, but the storylines driving every match just made sense, which is something that the WWE seems to struggle with on a consistent basis. Felt as if an entirely different group of people behind the scenes were running the place.

Also, was kind of neat to have half of the roster basically entering new programs in the span of one show.

 

[GKJ]

Two years ago she's on stage at Wrestlemania as one of the girls for Triple H's entrance before his match with Daniel Bryan.

And now he's the first one there when she wins the title on Raw.

I said it once already but I'm so glad and proud that my favorite wrestler is a woman and it's cool that it's one of the main things I get excited for.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

 

[Engebretson]

Russo: Balor Defeating Roman Reigns And Rusev Was The Nail In The Coffin For Me

Apparently Russo wasn't a fan

His rant is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read too.

Best comment under his "article":

So you think they should've had David Arquette come out and beat Reigns instead?

 

[PBandJ]

Best comment under his "article":

Or Billy Kidman?

 

[Guardian17]

That woman's title match was fantastic!

Loved the "Eddie Guerrero" fake being hit with the belt spot.

I really enjoyed Cory Graves on color commentary.