/presses “return” until keyboard breaks
Tonight’s WWE Open Discussion thread has a random video game image as the header in honor of PWTorch.com’s amazing, vague “show preview” that has shown up on every dirt sheet as a sneak preview of what’s going down on Raw.
- Here is the preview for tonight’s edition of WWE Monday Night Raw…
* The show will continue the build to WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane.
* The follow up from last week, where the Big Show destroyed Brodus Clay and WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & R-Truth.
* The continued build to Big Show vs. John Cena at No Way Out.
* The latest build to the World Title match between Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio at No Way Out
* Dark matches announced for tonight are: Punk vs. Bryan and a handicap match of John Cena vs. Big Show & John Laurinaitis.
Credit: pwtorch.com
Quicker version: We don’t have a preview yet but we need that sweet Google traffic, so let’s “what happened on the last show will probably keep happening”, copy-paste it four times and send it out. Pro wrestling journalism is the best. They should start adding footnotes to their Raw previews.
So yeah, we’re probably just gonna play video games tonight. As a reminder, my 10 favorite comments from tonight’s discussion will be included in tomorrow’s Best And Worst Of WWE Raw 6/4/12 report. To nominate a comment for top 10 status, please respond to it with a +1. To nominate yourself for my best friend ever, take a With Leather or @MrBrandonStroud sign to Raw and hold it in front of one of those weird creepy Sheamus cosplay kids so it’ll get on TV.
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John Cena’s wife be gettin crazy
[www.tmz.com]
2
Wow, apparently the comments don’t like the LESS THAN Symbol…
Ruined my comment…
“2 IS LESS THAN 1. #FeedMeMore”
I used to really enjoy it when CM Punk was able to point out the hypocrisy of the other wrestlers. While he was supposed to be the bad guy in the Jeff Hardy feud, the reason why he disliked Hardy was because Hardy chose a life of drug abuse as opposed to the fans who adored him.
The Cena-Cole match stunk. I just don’t see much way around that, unless you love Cena and everything he does is awesome.
But I don’t have a problem with WWE using bullying as a character/storyline development tool. In the end, WWE is a scripted show and using actions which society does/should not condone to develop a character/story is an acceptable method for fiction writing.
My problem with what happened last night is that it totally violates the logic of Cena’s character that he would do such a a thing. Cena is supposed to be about unicorns and rainbows and everything else that is right with the world (or whatever he means by HLR). Having Cena do what he did to Cole – and to Johnny L. at OTL – is inconsistent with his character as WWE’s hero.
It simply annoys me that WWE can’t tell a good story without screwing up the logic behind their characters and those character’s respective motivations.
Finally, one caveat to my acceptance of bullying as a legit storyline. There are types of bullying which WWE should not use, given its place as a fiction-writer to children. Sexist/racist/homophobic types of bullying – among others – should be out of bounds for the WWE, given the general audience to which it markets itself.
What’s all this “job performance evaluation” stuff? I’m having a real job performance evaluation next week, and I’m not enjoying the reminder of it on my wrestling show. Since when is two old white guys in suits talking about the bottom line supposed to draw me in for exciting television? *sigh** *wistfully.
So we’re going to fill in the extra hour of RAW by having AJ bang the whole locker room, aren’t we?
I got sidetracked and couldn’t keep up with the commenting last night. I mostly enjoyed RAW, overall I thought it was a pretty decent show. I’m glad Cena had an actual match prior to the pantsing/saucing of Michael Cole. Apparently I am bereft of a soul and conscience, because I didn’t have a problem with Character Michael Cole getting his well-deserved comeuppance from Character John Cena. AJ was very hot, and her weird defensive flirting with Kane was one of the oddest things I’ve seen. Sheamus and Ziggler (for some reason I first wrote Zoidberg) was a good match, although it’d be nice if Zig could actually win a match now and then. Ryback’s scrawny opponents were terribad, but not as bad as the doofs on Friday.
Next week is probably going to suck, so I’m going to remember this week’s episode as favourably as possible. This is the 3rd week now I believe with no diva action… could they actually be revamping the divas division and preparing to give the gals some legitimacy? Or have they been pulled entirely in favour of go-go dancers and valets? Time will tell.
I agree that Raw was mostly enjoyable, except for the last segment. And like you, I’m kind of torn on it. I mean, ultimately, yeah, the good character on the TV show beat up the bad character on the TV show, which is what’s been happening on wrestling since always.
The difference is that it was done with very little provocation (none outside of last night), and Cole’s pretty defenseless. And obviously it’s hypocritical for the Be A Star proponants to have Mr. Make-A-Wish beat up someone smaller than him for no reason. Of course, it is still just a TV show. They’re all getting paid to do these things. When we get too disgusted with something we see on TV, we need to step back and remind ourselves of that.
…I like what they’re doing with AJ. Really, I like the fact that they’re doing *anything* with her. I liked the flirting to escape being killed. It seems they took it in another direction backstage, when she referenced ‘aggressive women.’ Makes me wonder what she’s going to do next, which is the whole idea.
I can’t say I’m torn on it, because I can tell the difference between athletes earnestly promoting a worthy cause, and the exaggerated, unrealistic characters they portray on their show (which is NOT to suggest that anyone reading this can’t, I’m quite certain everyone here can). I get that kids might somehow perceive a mixed message, but if anyone is letting WWE programming be the sole moral and ethical input guiding their kids, then they deserve whatever little monsters they end up raising.
I also think that kids get underestimated a lot of the time. Even when I was a little kid I knew that wrestlers didn’t act like that all the time, because that’s not how people act. Kids can enjoy Michael Cole getting hot sauce dumped on him, and still realize that that is not how you should behave in the real world. And the ones who can’t understand that are almost certainly beyond the reach of any “Be A Star” campaign as well.
I kinda laugh when I see those Be A Star video packages where Mark Henry, Sheamus, and whoever else are at a school assembly, talking about how they used to get bullied.
I mean, for the kids in the crowd who are getting bullied, I’m sure it really helps them to hear that they’re not alone. So I totally support that. But the kids doing the bullying don’t give a shit that some wrestler is telling them they shouldn’t do it.
OK, my west coast Raw DVRing is over. And aside from the obviously last segment vitriol I’m seeing (and sharing), I have to make 2 points:
1. AJ is giving me the most uncomfortable, intermittent boner.
2. Arthur Rosenberg was sporting some fierce Hunger Games future beard.
“Roooooooooooooosennnnnnburrrrrrrg, Rooooooooooooooooooooosennnnnnnnburrrrrg.”
Sin Cara and Hunico could at least try and get along. It’s like, Come On.
I’m watching a dvr’d raw and I’m sure 800 people made this comment before me, but did John Cena really just hold Michael Cole down and make him admit that he liked to kiss other boys? Ugh.
[cdn.memegenerator.net]
We all need to spam WWE’s Twitter with things like that. Maybe they’d get the idea.
Watching a dvr’d raw and I’m sure I’m not the first to notice this, but:
[cdn.memegenerator.net]
Missed Raw because of work and following e3 from work. I feel like I just walked into the room and everyone drank the Flavor Aid. That ending looked catastrophic from the comments.
I used to really enjoy it when CM Punk was able to point out the hypocrisy of the other wrestlers. While he was supposed to be the bad guy in the Jeff Hardy feud, the reason why he disliked Hardy was because Hardy chose a life of drug abuse as opposed to the fans who adored him. And while I know that this is Cena the character, not Cena the man, who is behaving in this fashion, I wish there was a character on my TV program who could point out the problems with his actions.
The Good guys should act respectable. The bad guys should act shamefully. The Anti-Hero stance shouldn’t be making cheap cracks and dick jokes at Authority figures, it should be maintaining a moral stance or pursuing a goal regardless of the popular opinion. This is what I’d like from my wrestling show. Maybe that’s too much to ask.
My brain shut down about two minutes into Cole/Cena to prevent me doing any bodily harm to myself. I mean, I hit my head on the way down, but it’s a lot better than what I would have consciously perpetrated against myself, I’m sure.
John Cena only dates girls from Pi Delta Pi.
” Thanks for taking the heat off of me.”
–CM Punk
I’m kinda glad my DVR malfuntioned tonight otherwise I would have been pissed that I rewound and watched it. Happy accidents are awesome.
Between the complete garbage tonight and the 3 hour Job Evaluation Raw, I swear to Jeebus that they are trying to get people to stop watching.
I’m sorry for this rant, but I have to get this off my chest. I have been been bullied in school. My sister is a victim of bullying. She still has nightmares of being bullied and she is in her 20s. She The Be a STAR program is a nobel cause and I do support its beliefs, but the WWE behavior is making me sick to my stomach.
It has its superstars go out a promote Anti-Bullying but it makes there superstars act like bullies. They make women act promiscuous. They act racist towards any minority that isn’t a main eventer. They promote the bigger, untalented guys while the smaller guys have to fight and claw for any rung on the ladder they can grab. And they have their main star, the guy that is a role model to the kids they are targeting in their audience, beat up, embarass and ridicle someone very smaller and very less talented than he is.
I’ve been a fan since 2000, but now I am trying to think why I should give another dime or another minute to the WWE. And I am coming up with nothing.
The minute I heard that the main event was John Cena v Cole this was my train of thought. Then Hunico emerged and I got distracted by the fact that outside of Rey Mysterio and Tito Santana I could never think of a positive portrayal of Mexican wrestlers. Low Riders indeed…
I work at a boys home and so I watched the main event with a bunch of teenage guys and tried in vain to convince them Cena was the bully in this situation. Quite the mixed messages…
Yeah, we’ll see you next week, sport.
All this pissing and moaning over Michael Cole?
Vince: Because you need me, WWE Universe. Your guilty conscience may force you to vote Democratic, but deep down inside you secretly long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king. That’s why I did this: to protect you from yourselves.
+Terwilliger
Tonight was vince acknowledging everything we hate about Cena then telling us to to F’ ourselves. Also Prince Albert.
He’s wearing a mesquite mask!
+Muta Scale
I guess its just me, but while the segment was stupid as all hell, Heel Cole talked trash, then Face Cena gave him his comeuppance.
The problem is… Cena is an intelligent and well-spoken person fully capable of making Cole look like a bitch without ever laying a finger on him. It’s like… buttering your delicious homemade bread with a gun that shoots butter-slathered overcompensating-for-something, Final Fantasy VII Cloud-sized swords. And background explosions. Yeah it works I guess, and maybe looks pretty spectacular, but damn, a butter knife works better and more efficiently and leaves much less of a mess.
Thank you, that’s what I thought I was watching.
I get it, we cheer the heels on chat boards, but anything that happens to Michael Cole in the way of a schoolyard beating is greatly accepted.
And what the fuck is this guy talking about with the butter knife analogy? Cena used his talents, namely his retard-level strength, to make Cole answer for all the bullshit we’ve had to hear from him for the last 2 fucking years. Guy does a lousy Ace Ventura impression one week and everybody here shits on him (rightfully so), then he gets his revenge on the guy that embarassed him and sprayed Lime Kool-Aid in his eyes THEN he does something a LOT of people have wanted to do for a while and Dan Fielding, Kirk from “Dear John”, whatever the hell that NBC Character some guy on here writes under is ready to start a One Million Moms revolution against the Creative Coalition because apparently low ratings and falling buyrates are the WWE’s way of capitalizing on bullying. Just raking the cash in hand over fist, all those Be A Star shirts in the crowd. Please.
Hey, its cool if you disagree. I just feel like Sheamus, John Cena, CM Punk and Orton, who have been on top for the past few years, really seem to be acting counter to what Be a Star is promoting. I know Be a star was created just to try to make Linda look good in her senate run, and it doesn’t give any direct money to the WWE. No charity associated with a large corporation gives money back to the company, they’re designed to make the company look good.
If you want to argue that the segment started off as Cena giving Cole comeuppance, that’s fine, I fully believe that was their intention. But once you get past 2 minutes of him giving Cole noogies, it gets really uncomfortable. Stripping him down? Putting him in a headlock and making him apologize? Pouring BBQ sauce all over him to embarrass him? It just comes off as a giant dude intimidating and bullying a smaller guy.
Again, and no sarcasm here, I didn’t really want to intrude on this space, cause normally I’m just here to make jokes, but I felt compelled to say something. We make fun of WWE’s connection to Be A Star all the time on here, and I felt like someone should say something. I doubt it will ever come of anything, I can’t see myself starting a letter writing campaign, or appearing on TV condemning the WWE, i just don’t think they should get the image boost from associating with a charity that they are fundamentally against.
Also – I still love FunkyWarm, and will give him a big ole +1 for disagreeing. It can be hard sometimes to express yourself here when the general sentiment is going one way. We can all feel different about stuff here. It’s a safe space.
Now I promise, after this, I’m done, no more hippy dippy happy crappy bullshit from me.
Watched via DVR, so here’s my quick recap:
1. Michael Cole was brilliant all evening long, match included.
2. John Cena’s storyline flies directly in the face of his outside-the-ring persona. (read: bully)
3. Kane but on a watchable match (albeit, he may have been carried through it, but still).
4. I said it a few weeks ago, and I’ll say it again: AJ plays a good lunatic.
I will now red through the comments to see how many I inadvertently stole. Hope you guys had fun!
*read
*put
Seems like there was a central theme, namely: hypocrisy.
This has been said already, but a fun show otherwise beat to shit via bullying.
Bye Lisa! Tomorrow we find out what five minus three is!
My cat’s breath smells like cat food
When I grow up, I’m going to Bovine University!
I’m Idaho.
Your toys are fun to touch. Mine are all sticky.
Hi Super Nintendo Chalmers.
There’s a small town in central Indiana called Chalmers. I passed it on my way home from Indiana University to Chicago for 3 years and damn if I didn’t say this every time I passed the sign on I-65.
I found a moonrock in my nose.
Fireworks make my ears yell!
Wanna play stuffed animal parade?
My knob tastes funny.
Please refrain from tasting the knob.
Since I don’t have image posting privileges, here is the next best thing to cheer us up… Ralph Wiggum quotes!
The doctor said I wouldn’t have so many nose bleeds if I kept my finger outta there.
Hosey the Bear: You’re not going to set any fires, are ya?
Ralph Wiggum: At my house, we call them uh-ohs.
The only one applicable to me is, “It tastes like… burning!” in my soul
My favorite ever is still “Me fail English? That’s unpossible!” He says it with such optimism.
…Ah, optimism. That weird feeling that I get maybe once a month after an episode of Raw…
I can’t wait to purchase the strikethrough Hustle, Loyalty, Respect shirt on WWE.com!
I want to cry a little bit because of that last segment…but I’m guessing I’ll want to cry even more once I see the ratings for it.
So I’m thinking it might be a good idea to avoid RAW from the Carolinas from now on.
Well thanks Jern… don’t you know Cole is on a gluten free diet?
This made more angry than the second half of Death Note.
/That means I was pretty angry
Seriously, how do you ruin a segment that had “You contunially berated and insulted me, and you slapped me in the face. Our GM has decided to make this a no-DQ match after I worked my ass off to beat a 400 pound facially-tattooed ex-Lord. Now I must beat you” as its origin?
This was not the way to get the fans to like John Cena, though it will be sad to see how much this gets him over.
Judging by the crowd reaction, plenty over.
One of the few things keeping me still interested was the Punk/Bryan feud, then they go and add Kane to the mix. If it wasn’t for all of you funny bastards I really don’t know if I could watch this anymore. +1 to you all.
I want to be witty and funny, but I can’t. How the hell do they put that on tv!?!? #BeaStar has turned into “Bully and beat up anybody who disagrees with your opinion or makes any sort of sense when defending their actions.” Like what the hell!? Normally I am embarrassed or like ugghh, but I am actually pissed. I feel as though everyone in that arena was fucking stupid. Cole makes a decent argument, and Cena responds by pouring bbq sauce on him, and that is okay because Cena is the good guy in all this? What!? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING! I’m gonna go punch my goldfish and cry. FUCK YOU CENA!
Sooooo…I’m gonna go hide in my Blanket Fort with my ponies and a DolphAssRoll.gif now. :(
My Pillow Fort offers your Blanket Fort a truce during this difficult time.
Blanketsburg accepts Pillowtown’s temporary truce. Let’s make some s’mores and cry at the grave of Gotch.
Folks,
I have never done this, but I would ask all of you to go to the Creative Coalition, a non profit supporting Be A Star, and send them something regarding tonight’s Raw. Bullying is a serious problem, and I am tired of WWE using it for it’s own advantage. What follows is the message I sent to them. Feel free to send them something similar.
Dear Creative Coalition,
I am writing to ask you to end your partnership with Be a STAR. While I fully agree Be a STAR is a phenomenal program, and provides many youth with great awareness and learning experiences, I find their association with the WWE reprehensible. The WWE purports its employees as standing up to bullying, but the evidence on it’s television shows goes completely against this belief. Almost every week on WWE RAW or WWE Smackdown, we see a larger, stronger man berating, or attacking with none to little justification a smaller man or woman. I cannot believe you will continue to associate with an organization that shows such hypocrisy. Please look into this issue, and don’t let Bullying, a serious issue, be used by the WWE for Marketing purposes.
- Mike Germano
[thecreativecoalition.org]
Here is their website.
+1 even though adulthood sucks.
Is this the right place to go to? [thecreativecoalition.org]
+1 on that initiative
If you sir were a character in Captain Planet you would be Ma-Ti and have a kick ass pet monkey.
+1 Ron. +1. I will probably do it tomorrow, when my brain is not jelly.
+ 1
You should have signed it, “Ron Fucking Swanson”.
Sorry to be a downer guys, I really do love making fart jokes/simpsons references on here, and I just wish that is all I could do.
+1 Ron. What I just saw was horrible. I would love to see a public apology for how horrible that was. It made a mockery of the Be A Star campaign, and it makes a mockery of just how serious the bullying issue is.
+1 to your initiative
+1 I totally will. Also, a http://www.change.org petition might get some attention to this, as well.
Thank you, WithLeather comments thread/support group for being there in bad times as well as good.
I honestly believe that Kofi’s intro music goes… “S.O.S. I am not Shelton…”
hahahahaha
I will never not hear that now.
Oh no no no no. I ASKED Kofi that during an interview segment on 104.9 in Seattle before one of the Pay Per Views up here. I was dressed as bacon at the time. It was when Edge won the Elimination Chamber, and ambushed Kofi before he could get the ring. You own me a nickel, son. (yes…I have photo proof)
It was March 4, 2009. So. You. Do I know you?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s been hearing that.
“SOS… I hear them, Shelton. SOS… I hear them, Bryan.”
Serious question: was that bad because John Cena is supposed to be a good guy OR is it only bad because WWE does the Be A Star campaign. In other words, if WWE never did the anti-bullying campaign, would we care as much?
Maybe we wouldn’t care as much, but that wouldn’t make him any less of he’d still a giant Douchenozzle McAsshat.
I think the Be a Star just is lemon-salt vinegar in the wound; I mean, wrestling has done these kinds of jockular spots before where we all feel gross for watching this humiliation. But now it’s just worse because of their new campaign.
Wow, let me try that again.
Maybe we wouldn’t care as much, but that wouldn’t make him any less of a giant Douchenozzle McAsshat.
It’s because John Cena is supposed to be The Good Guy that the last segment was so awful on every level. The worst part is the crowd loved every second of it.
It was just bad all around
At Over the Limit – Cena mocked his scrawny opponent for 15 minutes, got beat up by a large bald man, and lost the match.
Tonight – Cena mocked his scrawny opponent for 15 minutes, got beat up by a large bald man, and WON the match.
Those hours watching game film have paid off.
+whatever I have left
Looks like John Cena went to the Triple H school of making an opponent feel bad and then crushing their dreams during said opponent’s time for redemption.
@oshit it certainly isn’t our self respect after watching the last 30 mins
At least Cena is showing character growth?
I would be really ashamed of myself being a wrestling fan right now if I didn’t know I was at least not alone. Right everyone? Hello? Hello? (Sees Brandon has closed down thread. Burnt his computer. Thrown the ashes in a box. Thrown that into the ocean. Lit ocean on fire. Put ashes of earth in a box. Gave it to Jean Claude Van Dam who went back in time, and connected with Jean Claude Van Dam in 1996 causing all existence to end.)
Stupid WWE.
I wanted to 5 knuckle shuffle the power button on my tv remote, just to emphasize just how much I hated that ending. And it takes A LOT for me to dislike watching Michael Cole get his ass kicked.
For real, yo.
Well, we we running hot for about 1.5 Raws there. Reset the workplace incident counter!
Hope you guys enjoyed bingo. I declared Team Johnny the unofficial winner about 40 minutes ago, but Vintage/Matching thermos are disputable. I just hope you had fun B.J. (Before Jerrrrrn).
B.J. needs to be a thing.
*we were running hot
As horrible as that ending was, there is a plus side. I think Best and Worst is more enjoyable when Mr. Stroud is full of vitriol.
Not according to Jeff(s)!
Josh was all like… “I think I hear Puppet-H calling me, AJ.”
I would root for the Syrian government over John Cena right now, I’m actually sick about that last segment, I’m just going to go to bed