WWE: WWE TV - Raw & Smackdown Part 3

[I Eat Crow]

They beefed it with slotting the show the way they did. No chance you don't lead with Punk after the reaction he got with the big surprise. The crowd was dead by the time he came out.

You do Punk to open and the Randy/Rhea spot at 9 to set up the main event and end the show on a good note with Randy going over his first match back. Bungled big time. I could do with or without
Punk truthfully, but saving him for last kind of boned him and makes it look like a ratings grab to keep people tuned in for 3 hours.

That said, I like the feuds they're setting up for the Rumble. Seth-Drew. Nakamura-Rhodes probably finishes on the first Raw of January but that'll be a fun build. Orton-JD with Jey factoring in somehow?

Miz-Gunther should be another good match while they build up Gable. Ivar-Bronson was fine but I was sad to not see the most electrifying move in wrestling tonight.

Lots of questions though. Who takes down JD for the tag titles and how does the belt split happen again? They gotta work this out by Wrestlemania. They'll be deathly boring by the time that rolls around if they still have the belts.

Punk should start out on the midcard until he eventually goes for the main title at WM. Insert him into a JD feud and more people will turn on him quickly. Punk-Nakamura was a perfect first feud but they burned Nakamura to feed to Cody.

 

[Emperoreddy]

To me it looks like the plan for JD is for Priest to get kicked out

 

[I Hart Conor Garland]

Smackdown.

This was already covered in the above post.

 

[dahrougem2]

They beefed it with slotting the show the way they did. No chance you don't lead with Punk after the reaction he got with the big surprise. The crowd was dead by the time he came out.

You do Punk to open and the Randy/Rhea spot at 9 to set up the main event and end the show on a good note with Randy going over his first match back. Bungled big time. I could do with or without
Punk truthfully, but saving him for last kind of boned him and makes it look like a ratings grab to keep people tuned in for 3 hours.

That said, I like the feuds they're setting up for the Rumble. Seth-Drew. Nakamura-Rhodes probably finishes on the first Raw of January but that'll be a fun build. Orton-JD with Jey factoring in somehow?

Miz-Gunther should be another good match while they build up Gable. Ivar-Bronson was fine but I was sad to not see the most electrifying move in wrestling tonight.

Lots of questions though. Who takes down JD for the tag titles and how does the belt split happen again? They gotta work this out by Wrestlemania. They'll be deathly boring by the time that rolls around if they still have the belts.

Punk should start out on the midcard until he eventually goes for the main title at WM. Insert him into a JD feud and more people will turn on him quickly. Punk-Nakamura was a perfect first feud but they burned Nakamura to feed to Cody.

He absolutely should have started the show, but WWE doesn't know how to do anything with Raw that doesn't involve:

1) Wrestler arrives to the ring for promo to open the show
2) Judgement Day confronts said wrestler
3) Main event match booked for later, either singles or tag team if another wrestler arrives to help said wrestler fend off Judgement Day

Reverse the formula if Judgement Day starts in the ring and gets confronted by a wrestler/multiple wrestlers in order to set up the night's main event.

It's been going on for so long, I don't get why Trips can't change it. Like at all, nothing ever changes with that formula.

 

[Sheppy]

That Punk promo felt so… neutered?

 

[I Hart Conor Garland]

That Punk promo felt so… neutered?

#freephil

 

[TNT87]

I was pretty underwhelmed by the promo. Maybe I had too high of expectations.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Promo was like a worse version of his AEW debut promo really. Also his barber f***ed him up. God damn.

 

[Megahab]

Randy’s promo was largely dull.

Some things never change.

 

[TD Charlie]

Promo was like a worse version of his AEW debut promo really. Also his barber f***ed him up. God damn.

I just think he took a comb to his own head, dry, just before running out there and teased it himself. He looked like he rolled out of bed and walked to the ring

 

[BruinDust]

Randy’s promo was largely dull. Punks promo was somehow even worse.

It only took one night for them to make me lose interest.

He sucks as a babyface. For all the praise he gets from other talents for his in-ring work/storytelling, his acting chops on the mic aren't his strong suit.

He got over playing the straight man to Riddle's goofiness in RK-Bro, because he was still acting sort of like a heel towards Riddle. But on his own, Orton just can't pull it off.

 

[Grackle Party]

He sucks as a babyface. For all the praise he gets from other talents for his in-ring work/storytelling, his acting chops on the mic aren't his strong suit.

He got over playing the straight man to Riddle's goofiness in RK-Bro, because he was still acting sort of like a heel towards Riddle. But on his own, Orton just can't pull it off.

Being a top babyface is the hardest role in the biz imo

 

[BruinDust]

Being a top babyface is the hardest role in the biz imo

I agree 100%.

 

[GKJ]

Crowd ate up both promos so it doesn’t really matter.

Punk has done two major return promos, one of which was 3 months ago. Even though this is the return to WWE, best to keep it short. Compare that to Edge’s return, that guy got like 15 minutes.

They’ll save some of the red meat for the actual interactions. He said just enough to take things wherever they want, but it seemed disingenuous in the sense that it sounded like he was back from a vacation that just happened to take 10 years

 

[Satans Hockey]

Lmfao this is perfect...

 

[sansabri]

promo was boring because we were all hoping for petty punk to call out everyone including little children

 

[TD Charlie]

promo was boring because we were all hoping for petty punk to call out everyone including little children

Or that it was 3 minutes of nothingness. The delivery sucked. The content sucked. The only good part was the end, off the mic when he said I’m not here to make friends I’m here to make money. That’s good stuff, run with that as the gimmick! But in the context of the promo last night it didn’t really make sense

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Y'all are mad about the promo length... I'm just over here thinking "Five whole minutes of talking, and the only part that sounded authentic was 'I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to make money'." He's a master at selling bullshit though. It's why he's over.

Promo was like a worse version of his AEW debut promo really. Also his barber f***ed him up. God damn.

Not really a barber f*** up. His hair was fine on his return and for whatever reason it looks like he either wore a hood or hat and never checked it before going out, because it was all matted down. I thought the same though. One night and already back to looking like an unkempt bum.

 

[Jussi]

He absolutely should have started the show, but WWE doesn't know how to do anything with Raw that doesn't involve:

1) Wrestler arrives to the ring for promo to open the show
2) Judgement Day confronts said wrestler
3) Main event match booked for later, either singles or tag team if another wrestler arrives to help said wrestler fend off Judgement Day

Reverse the formula if Judgement Day starts in the ring and gets confronted by a wrestler/multiple wrestlers in order to set up the night's main event.

It's been going on for so long, I don't get why Trips can't change it. Like at all, nothing ever changes with that formula.

From a tv production viewpoint, which is more likely to keep viewers tuned in for the whole show, have Punk in the first hour or at the end? To me it's a no brainer. Casuals aren't sticking around to see Randy Orton talking at the end.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

From a tv production viewpoint, which is more likely to keep viewers tuned in for the whole show, have Punk in the first hour or at the end? To me it's a no brainer. Casuals aren't sticking around to see Randy Orton talking at the end.

How likely is someone that is only interested in Punks promo to sit around for 3 hours of a show for it? Not very likely. Give the people what they want and then try and hook them from there. As it is when I found out it was closing I bailed and just watched the promo in the morning.

 

[dahrougem2]

From a tv production viewpoint, which is more likely to keep viewers tuned in for the whole show, have Punk in the first hour or at the end? To me it's a no brainer. Casuals aren't sticking around to see Randy Orton talking at the end.

If Punk doesn't open, that means he is at the end which means viewers change channels until 8:40.

Either way viewership can suffer.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Just watched Punk's promo.

It was nothing spectacular and it certainly wasn't a top-tier Punk promo, but it was clearly better than 95% of the promos we hear nowadays. It was miles better than Orton's.

While it was corny, it did what it had to do. I thought the last minute was very very good. The jabs at Rollins were not very subtle and I cannot wait for this feud.

That being said, I understand people who are disappointed. I would have loved some jabs to AEW too, but it was not going to happen. WWE does not need to do that and Punk should not do that.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

From a tv production viewpoint, which is more likely to keep viewers tuned in for the whole show, have Punk in the first hour or at the end? To me it's a no brainer. Casuals aren't sticking around to see Randy Orton talking at the end.

Casuals aren't sticking around three whole hours for anybody.

They'll flip the channel and flip back at 1045.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Casuals aren't sticking around three whole hours for anybody.

They'll flip the channel and flip back at 1045.

There really aren't any casual fans anymore for regular TV, those people just tune in for the rumble and mania and summerslam. That's why the TV ratings are what they are. Wrestling is never, ever going to be as huge as it once was despite there still being good attendance for big ppv shows and even that the vast majority of that is all the same pool of people attending.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

There really aren't any casual fans anymore for regular TV, those people just tune in for the rumble and mania and summerslam. That's why the TV ratings are what they are. Wrestling is never, ever going to be as huge as it once was despite there still being good attendance for big ppv shows and even that the vast majority of that is all the same pool of people attending.

Maybe casual isn't the right word.

... The typical 300-400K viewers they lose from the start of RAW to the third hour probably aren't sticking around for anybody. Casual may not be a good word for that group, but I really can't find a better one.