Monday Night Raw – July 13, 2015: Viva Las Divas (And Stephanie Just Because)

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20 Responses

  1. Marky-Marc says:

    I have to say, I think you went way too hard on this show. Kinda seemed like you were in a bad mood while writing this one.

    First, you expressed that the Kane-in-Hawaii story was stupid. Why? Rollins, trying to keep Kane on his side, sends him on a vaca to express his gratitude, ends up screwing himself because he needed him for when Lesnar showed up.

    Second, the Cody Rhodes thing. Cody has stated he wanted to continue doing Stardust and did not want anything special to come of his story because his father died. Also, the crowd chanting ‘Cody’ was not to show support for him. It’s because Stardust hates being called Cody. it happens in all of his matches.

    Third, Tough Enough. I’m watching Tough Enough and it is definitely not the greatest thing in the world, but it has some interesting parts. However, for you to say it’s not interesting when you don’t watch it seems petty and you’re better than that.

    Finally, the divas. Let me point out first, I don’t think I budged an inch during the entire segment. yeah it could lead to some cool stuff down the line but they’re still the divas and until I see otherwise, I have no faith in these call-ups leading to the division meaning anything more.
    Having said that, you cared way too much about Stephanie being out there. Again, don’t get me wrong, Stephanie being on my TV always irritates me. But in one year when – hopefully- these girls are lighting the world on fire, nobody, repeat, nobody is going to be saying how these girls are here because of Stephanie. They went the route of capitalizing on all the successful women in sports things going on these days, so they send out the female member of the Authority. It’s not that big of a deal, certainly not what you made it out to be.
    I think you’re love for NXT, coupled with your hatred of Stephanie just really got to you.

    • Thomas Hall says:

      1. The Kane thing: it’s Kane in a storyline associated with the main event. That alone is stupid, but the photoshopped stuff from Hawaii is an old joke they use and I’ve always found it stupid.

      2. If Cody wants to be Stardust and that’s how he wants to deal with his grief, I have zero issues with him as Stardust.

      3. I find Tough Enough boring and a waste of time because the biggest winner ever is John Morrison, a career midcarder. When a Tough Enough winner means anything, I’ll be interested. That’s why I don’t care about the show: in the long run, the winners mean nothing.

      4. That’s true that people likely won’t care in a year, but I’ve been along with these girls for their entire journey here, just like I’ve been along with Paige for her war with the Bellas. Stephanie or no Stephanie, this past Monday was bad storytelling. The women in sports thing felt like a huge cop out and little more than a way to try to validate Stephanie being there. It’s not a big deal long term, but with Stephanie’s track record of diving into stuff that has nothing to do with her to make herself look good, I’ve lost any patience for her.

  2. Bernkastel says:

    I thought the show was pretty good. It [mostly] held my attention for the whole 3 hours, which is rare. The Divas segment was great, I just kinda zoned Stephanie out. Though if she does some kind of long winded promo next week taking TV time from the girls then I’d agree with the “red flag” assessment. The triple threat was great. Owens and Rusev are both very talented, and I was impressed with Cesaro. He’s starting to grow on me again. I really do like the Seth/Brock angle. The only reason why I’m not 100% behind it is the possibility of Lesnar winning the title and leaving again. That would suck, as I was not a fan of it the first time. But regardless the story is starting to move. Also Dolph Ziggler wasn’t on the show so that was a huge plus.

    • dookie blaster 3000 says:

      i keep saying it but Cesaro is the best wrestler in all of wwe by far. no one is even by a million miles.

  3. Future says:

    Everybody crapping on Steph is unreal. Maybe 1/3 of the audience watches NXT and knows how awesome those girls are. The other 2/3 simply know that NXT is the farm league and aren’t sure what to make of them.

    Having the “owner” Stephanie come out and introduce them may piss off the internet smarks but it gives those debuts some instant legitimacy to the majority of the audience.

    • Thomas Hall says:

      No.

      What gives this credibility is them dismantling the Bellas, commentary putting them over as big deals and Paige endorsing them as the answer to her problems.

      Stephanie was not needed in any fashion.

      • Jay H (the real one) says:

        Isn’t that basically what happened? Them taking out The Bella Twins and standing tall with Paige. Pretty sure I (who was there on Monday) and many others saw it that way. I don’t see anyone else besides you whining about Stephanie being out there.

        Like I said I was the Show on Monday and I thought it was a very good RAW overall. I guess I am bias since I was there. The Triple Threat was one of the best Live Matches I have ever seen.

        Also I had no real issue with Cody coming back as Stardust. If he had I am sure you would have thought they were milking his Father passing away for sympathy.

        KB I enjoy your reviews but at times you come off a little too critical I think.Its Wrestling man. Life is so much easier when you don’t agonize over it and just enjoy it for what it is.

        • Eric says:

          It’s also fair to have an expectation and for things to fall short of it. The Divas coming up to the main roster was something we knew would happen. It was set to happen organically in storyline but instead it was rushed to “take advantage” of female athlete popularity with the Women’s World Cup win, and on top of all that, Stephanie was the focus on the segment. Watch it again and see which face is the last you see on screen.

          SPOILER: It’s Stephanie.

          So now, the announcers won’t talk about how great the news girls are, they’ll say “how great is it that STEPH BROUGHT UP BECKY LYNCH AND CHARLOTTE. THANKS STEPH!” It was unneeded, completely out of character, and ridiculous and while it accomplished something we all wanted, let’s not put blinders on and pretend it was the perfect way to debut the girls. It most certainly wasn’t and that’s largely due to it not being about them but being about Stephanie freakin McMahon.

        • Jay H (the real one) says:

          But does it really matter in the end? Is Stephanie going to be in those Matches or be involved in their Feuds? No I don’t think so. People worry too much about who else was out their more than what it was designed to do.

        • Eric says:

          It was designed to give Stephanie credit. Rather than the logical story of “Paige finds backup” which would get the fans behind Paige because she chose up and comers that people like, Steph chose them and out girls in to 3 teams. There was a better way to execute these debuts, spread them out a little, start after Bsttlegoriund and have Stephanie somewhere in the Phillipines.

  4. Mac says:

    I’m thinking more and more that Cesaro and Rusev screw over Owens at Battleground like he’s done to them culminating in the 4 way at Summerslam. What do you think?

  5. dookie blaster 3000 says:

    and since Triple H is getting all this praise for the NXT guys, it was only fair that the strong, powerful independent confident smart tough great human and business woman known to us as Stephanie gets credit for the NXT girls.

    im sure the internet is gonna send her a fruit basket soon.

  6. dookie blaster 3000 says:

    jesus christ how many times have they used the line “burning Suplex City to the ground” since they first mentioned it? such a cool line now sounds so corny after sooo many mentions

  7. Wirehead says:

    I think the Bella’s and even Fox don’t deserve to be lumped in with terrible workers now. At the very least they’re carryable and women like Charlotte and Sasha can do the carrying.

    But I know I’m in the minority with that opinion.

    • Gunther_224 says:

      We’ll see about that once they actually wrestle against each other.

    • dookie blaster 3000 says:

      nah, i think Alicia is decent enough to have a good match with the NXT girls. Nikki kinda too. Brie and the rest tho…just….no.

  8. Thriller says:

    For what it’s worth, Cody’s non-Stardust Twitter said in no uncertain terms that he didn’t want his dad’s death to be used on-screen at all in relation to him.

  9. Mike M. says:

    I hate crapping on this show because it was great to see the NXT women in the ring and the triple threat was great, but I have to crap on it. I agree with everything you said about the Divas segment. Stephanie McMahon is just awful. My biggest problem with the segment though is something you touched on and it’s how it ended, with the Total Diva theme playing. I have very low expectations for Becky, Charlotte, and Sasha because of that show. That show dictates who gets pushed in the Divas division. Instead of watching them put on top-rate matches like they do in NXT, they’ll be shoehorned into 3 minute matches based on Sasha winking at Cena or some other drivel from that show. I hope I’m wrong though.

    My other issue with the show is Ambrose. He was in the main event of the last PPV and he doesn’t have a match for this Sunday. My money says he turns on Reigns and costs him his match because the WWE can’t stay out of their own way. He’s over and Reigns, while getting more cheers, still isn’t. An Ambrose/Reigns feud isn’t going to help that.

    • Eric says:

      Plus the fans would cheer Ambrose anyway, thus achieving exactly opposite what they’d like.

      And I’m glad a few other people saw the Divas segment similarly to I did and didn’t suck it’s proverbial dick solely because the girls you wanted to see were actually out there.

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