Monday Night Raw April 25, 2016

Monday Night Raw April 25, 2016

The show starts how it should, with the In Memory of Joanie Laurer “Chyna”. While I do believe that she should have been put in the Hall of Fame years ago, she clearly had her own demons that stood in her way. This was a one of a kind woman, the 9^th wonder of the world. She could stand toe to toe with damn near anyone in the business in that ring. She was a Women’s champion, a Royal Rumble participant and an Intercontinental Champion. She will be remembered and missed by all who were fans of the Attitude era.

Shane McMahon is first out to start things off for Raw, it appears he is in charge of Raw once again. Shane promises that things are going to keep going in this new era, but this is WWE. It doesn’t take long for Stephanie McMahon’s music to hit and for her to come out. Stephanie announces that this will be Shane’s last night running Monday Night Raw. At Payback Vince will decide who will be running Monday Night Raw moving forward. After Shane politely asks Stephanie to leave and she refuses, Shane asks for security to escort Stephanie out of “our ring”. The crowd gets a good na na na na na heh heh heh goodbye going. Poor security though, one of them takes hard slap to the face in the process.

Shane kicks off the action for the night announcing the first match is AJ Styles up against Sheamus. This match was a great start to the show, for a moment it looks like Styles is going to tap out, but AJ is able to connect with the Phenomenal Forearm and get the victory of Sheamus. As AJ Styles is celebrating is his friends Luke Gallows and Carl Anderson make an appearance on the stage. It cuts to the back where Roman Reigns is watching, him and the Uso’s establish, as if we didn’t know, that they got each other’s backs.

New Day Rocks!!! New Day Rocks!!! New Day Rocks!!! It feels like its been a while since we have gotten some quality time with the New Day on the mics, but no worries they are hear to talk about the tag tournament, also, nice ode to Prince thrown in there, kudos on that. The Vaudevillian’s and Enzo and Big Cass make their way out to the ring as well to put in their two cents.  While the Villain’s and Enzo and Cass go back and forth seeing the New Day in the background is great! I’m really excited for this match at payback to find out who will be the number 1 contenders.

Finally, the ring debut of Luke Gallows and Carl Anderson as they face the Uso’s. I’m super excited for this match. While the Uso’s fast pace offence keeps the Uso’s on top for a while, Gallows and Anderson brut force quickly turns things around as they target Jay Uso’s injured shoulder. It looks like Jimmy is going to be able to turn things around when he gets tagged in, but Anderson and Gallows win the match and continue the assault after the match until Roman Reigns comes out and takes care of business.

While Renee is trying to interview AJ Styles, Gallows and Anderson interrupt saying they want a moment with their friend. They adamantly state that they will not get in his way for his opportunity at the title and that they have his back to make sure the Uso’s don’t get in the way either.

After a very nice video package for the Sami Zayn versus Kevin Owens match at payback, Zayn goes up against Rusev. After a hard faught match Zayn pulls off the win with a roll up on Rusev, and a not so happy Lana throws her shoes at Zayn. This is good momentum for Zayn going into payback, but Kevin Owens attacks Zayne from behind to send a message of his own.

Dean Ambrose is in the ring, he expresses that there is no Ambrose Asylum this week because he isn’t in a good mood after Jericho attacking him after his match on Smackdown. Ambrose invites Jericho out to the ring, Ambrose is ready to get this fight started now rather than wait for Sunday at Payback. Side note, whenever Jericho says idiot, I automatically smile. I don’t know why, it just makes me laugh. Jericho takes some time and tells Ambrose that Ambrose should thank him for even getting in a match. Then tells Ambrose he should apologize to him for disrespecting and for stealing the Highlight reel. Ambrose apologizes, but not for what Jericho wants him to apologize for. Ambrose quickly attacks, punching Jericho and throwing him to the out side, Jericho takes advantage though and ends up getting Ambrose in the Walls of Jericho on top of the announce table.

AJ Styles approaches Roman Reigns as he heads to the ring for is match and lets him know at Payback he is taking the Title. Reigns made one statement, that Styles must have already bought ring side tickets for Anderson and Gallows.

Main even for the night is WWE World Heavy Weight Champion Roman Reigns versus Alberto Del Rio. Even with Del Rio having control of most of the match, Reigns is able to pull out a superman punch to get control. Queue Gallows and Anderson’s music, even with the distraction though, Reigns is able to pull off a spear and get the win. Gallows and Anderson attack Reigns, Styles comes out to stop them and is thanked with a superman punch, but while Reigns is dealing with the other too, Styles pulls off a Phenomenal Forearm to put Reigns down. Things will be interesting on Sunday that is for sure.

Final thoughts for this Raw, while I’m sure there was something on the regular 3 hour raw, it sucks that there wasn’t anything on the Hulu 90 minute version for the women’s division. They have been so hot and to leave them off the show completely really puts the breaks on their momentum. 

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Monday Night Raw April 18, 2016

Monday Night Raw April 18, 2016

Starting the show we have the new talk show The Ambrose Asylum with Dean Ambrose. After some cheesy talk show fun in front of a hot London crowd, Ambrose introduces his first guest and it is none other than Shane McMahon. Shane gets some time to talk about his goals are for WWE and what he wants out of his return, but things come to a halt when Kevin Owens comes out. Owens has a few things to say to Shane about his former best friend Sami Zayn and about how he feels Shane treats him. Not wanting to be talked about with out giving his two cents, Sami comes out to make some statements of his own. It is short lived though as Jericho makes his way out to the ring. Things are getting a little crowded here on The Ambrose Asylum. Things quickly get heated and Shane McMahon makes two matches for Payback. First it will be Dean Ambrose versus Chris Jericho and Sami Zayn versus Kevin Owens at Payback.

Because of how things geared up during the Ambrose Asylum, Shane also made to matches for Raw, kicking off the action is Chris Jericho versus Sami Zayn.  Both guys hit some of their bigger moves. Jericho, though, took a page out of Flair’s book and delivered a thumb to Zane’s eye, with Zane disorientated Jericho was able to hit a code breaker and get the victory.

We get a brief introduction for Carl Anderson and Luke Gallows from AJ Styles. Bullet Club fans eat your hearts out. Oh the possibilities in the future!

Tag Team Tournament time, first out is the new best talkers on the main roster Enzo and Big Cass! They spelled it out for ya again while talking about the Dudley’s Boys. Enzo’s eccentric ways come to light during the match, which is refreshing to see up on the main roster. The Dudley’s clearly were not fans of what was said about them before the match and they take that out on Enzo for a good portion of the match. After Enzo gets the tag to Cass though, the match takes off for them as they beat the Dudley’s with the rocket launcher.

Oh man, no love for Roman Reigns as he makes his way to the ring, Well there were some cheers but it is hard to hear of all the boo’s. Haters are gonna hate. At this point it’s comical, embracing it is the best course of action. Reigns lays it out there that any one that wants to challenge him is going to get punched in the mouth. AJ Styles comes out to the joy of much of the audience. After some talking between them, Roman states he would “rather be respected with the title than liked without it.” AJ responded with “I would rather be liked and respected because that makes me phenomenal.” After that he leaves the ring smiling as he walks up the ramp. As Reigns watches in the ring he is attacked from behind by Carl Anderson and Luke Gallows, they leave Reigns laying in the ring as they walk up the towards what appears to be a not to happy looking AJ Styles.

AJ approaches Roman Reigns back stage after to try to explain that he didn’t know that was going to happen. Reigns isn’t convinced though, not after they attacked his cousins the Uso’s last week and him this week.  Roman states that it doesn’t mater though, at Payback AJ can bring all of his friends, it will be one versus all.

Before we get into the Women’s match Charlotte has an interview that is interrupted by Natalia. Natalia announces that she gets a rematch at Payback and her Uncle Bret Hart will be in her corner.

That leads into an 8 women tag match between Natalia, Becky Lynch, Paige and Sasha Banks versus Team Bad with Naomi and Tamina along with Summer Rae and Charlotte. Honestly woman’s wrestling is so hot right now it WWE. It is also nice to see Tamina get a chance to show her strengths rather than being on the outside. Several women actually get to show some moves off in this match, which is nice to see. Not gonna lie, I love Naomi’s shoes, you could make a drinking game out of how many times they change colors during a match. Natalia gets the win with the sharp shooter on Charlotte in the end and gets the win for the team of Natalia, Becky Lynch, Paige and Sasha Banks.

The next match in the semi finals of the tag tournament is the Vaudevillians up against the Uso’s. I don’t think I will ever get tired of the Vaudevillians entrance, but it could be the old school slap stick comedy fan in me. It’s a pretty short match but it flows well and works for what they were doing. The Vaudvillans pull out the win and go up against Enzo and Big Cass at Payback to see who will be the #1 contender’s for the Tag Team Titles.

Main Event for the night is Dean Ambrose versus Kevin Owens.  They are both hitting hard and in your face from the start, but Ambrose’s unique offense has him getting the upper hand. They go back and forth in true Owen/Ambrose fashion, but that frog splash Owens delivers on Ambrose from the apron to the floor out side looked brutal. The crowd is chanting pretty much through this entire match for both guys.  Ambrose wins the match after nailing Dirty Deeds on Owens. While Ambrose is celebrating his victory, when he turns around he is nailed with a code breaker from out of nowhere. The show goes off the air with Chris Jericho looking down at Ambrose lying before him.

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Act 150: Vote for Funaki and Masked Blogster

Masked Blogster, Matt and Mandy discuss Wrestlemania and go into overtime with this episode. Ignore Masked Blogster when he says to turn off the podcast as the show goes back to it's normal self and the hosts go into talk of Daredevil, Batman V Superman and whether Netflix's Marvel series' will change our views of movies from here on out.  You also need to listen to the whole podcast to figure out what we mean by our title.  Funaki is number one!

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Monday Night Raw, March 28,2016

Monday Night Raw March 28,2016

This review is based on the 90 minute version on Hulu. Fair warning there may be stuff I don’t talk about for that reason.

It’s that time of the year again when the biggest show of the year takes place. Wrestlemania. Yes, it is the biggest show of the year, period. Anyone who says otherwise is just ignorant. Wrestlemania is so widely anticipated and loved around the world, nothing reaches and connects to the masses as a whole the way that Mania does. This entire week is about the build up to Mania and this Raw was exactly what was needed to kick off the week for this Sunday.

Raw started off with none other then the Undertaker and Shane McMahon, I have to admit up until now I wasn’t really sure how I felt about this story and match.  I’m more than excited to see Shane McMahon back in WWE. I honestly do believe that is what is best for business, especially for the future of WWE. I really wish we had gotten more of Taker and Shane going off on each other by them selves the way the did this week on Raw, because this bit was amazing! Taker said it best “Wrestlemania is my yard, Hell in a Cell is my house!” It may not be the best match from a technical perspective, but story wise this is one of the matches I am most excited for. I may be biased though, Undertaker is my all time favorite. Also, any one who complained about that elbow Shane delivered to Taker putting him through the announce table just needs to shut their mouth, it was the perfect tease to prove Shane can still do the crazy stuff and what better way to lead things in to Mania.

Oh a match, love when they have those on Raw! I kid, I kid they have matches on raw, first match up on Raw was Zack Ryder vs Chris Jericho. The little preshow promo didn’t make much since to me, no wrestler in their right mind would ever not want to be apart of Mania. That isn’t really something to focus on though so I’m just going to act like I didn’t hear that and move on. The match was entertaining and having AJ Styles at ringside getting a “Y2Jackass” chant going was great. Side note Jericho temper tantrums are one of my favorite things. They will always make me giggle. Also kudos for this pairing for Styles for his first Mania, Aj Styles vs Jericho will be a solid match.

Diva revolution you say? Yes please! The three-way match at Mania between Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks has potential to be the best diva’s match we have ever seen in the women’s division at Wrestlemania. Becky Lynch vs Charlotte was a nice little tease to lead up to this Sunday. The quality of matches these women are putting out right now is refreshing, the Diva division has needed this for awhile.

I’m going to skip the first segment with Triple H and Roman Reigns, I’m going to save that for the end. Plus why put off talking about New Day! Cause New Day Rocks! Clap clap clap! New Day Rocks! Hope you all got your Booty O’s because Kofi Kingston squares off against League of Nations member Alberto Del Rio. Both wrestlers are great, so the match was everything we have come to expect from the New Day, it was entertaining.  We have to talk about New Day, those 3 men should live with mics in their hands! Outside of Paul Heyman, no one is on their level for promo’s. This tag match at Mania is going to brutal and watching how both teams use there numbers to their advantage will be great.  Short post match fun here, the Coach is back!!! ESPN in the house! Sports Center is announced for Wrestlemania! Yes this makes me happy.

Speaking of Paul Heyman, we got a little tease of what may come at Mania. Heyman being Heyman, did what he does and sold this match of Dean Ambrose vs Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania. Yes, it would have been nice to see both men duke it out a little bit, but the segment got the message across. Any thing goes, steel steps, barb wire baseball bats, fire extinguishers, chainsaws, its all legal. Ambrose hasn’t  really gotten the upper hand on Lesnar yet, so we will have to see what kind of lunacy he will bring to the table to get a head in this match. I have high expectations for this match!

What appears to be a match that will take place every year now, 6 of the 7 competitors in the ladder match for the Intercontinental Title squared off on Raw in a 6-man tag match. The match it self was a pretty good match, I liked the cat and mouse games going on between Kevin Owens and Sami Zane. Having Zane get the pin on Owens to end the match after Owens partners to a page out of his book and bailed was great. I’m excited to see what things these 7 men can come up with for this match.

Now for my rant, can someone please explain to me why all the hate for Roman Reigns? No I’m not his biggest fan, but still people are acting like he has horrible matches every night or something. If anyone else had made that jump over the top rope everyone would have gone nuts, instead because it was Reigns people bust out a “You still suck” chant? I like to see any one sitting in that audience get in the ring and try that. Also don’t start with the promo issue, yes I know he isn’t great at promos, but that didn’t slow them down at all through out setting up this match. So please everyone, just sit back and watch, actually watch it before you start shitting on someone. I honestly just don’t understand how anyone could not be looking forward to this match between Triple H and Roman Reigns. 

To expand on that, I feel like a friendly reminder is needed for all the fans out there. You are just that, a fan. Be a fan. Yes you can have opinions and you can express them. That is part of the joy of being a fan. Please, please watch what is happening though, there is no need to tell WWE how to do their job. WWE knows what they are doing a majority of the time. Honest it really is okay to like it. I mean really that is the goal isn’t it? That’s why we watch it, to be entertained. Please just take a moment to remember this is Wrestlemania!

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