This is totally a sign somebody made and brought from home.
This week’s five-point Raw preview:
After Raw General Manager AJ Lee came completely unglued on last week’s Raw, one might begin to wonder if Mr. McMahon made the right decision in naming her the brand’s General Manager on the 1,000th episode of Raw. Speaking of Mr. McMahon … will Monday’s WWE Hall of Fame guest have anything to say about a certain incident involving the boss the last time the two of them were in Montreal? Here are five things to look for this Monday on Raw at 8/7 CT on USA Network.(via WWE.com)
Five actual things to look for on Raw:
1. Funkadactyl Cameron continuing her DUI/bribery suspension, causing poor Damien Sandow to be absent for another week, because, you know, you can’t continue a pro wrestler’s on-screen feud if one of his two ancillary dancing girls is missing.
2. General Manager AJ interrupting something to walk out onto the stage (or God forbid, all the way to the ring) to tilt her head to the side like a dog, put her fingers in her mouth, stand there silently for 45 seconds and announce a super obvious match or thing we were all expecting.
3. A show-opening 10-bell salute where all WWE stars past and present reunite to lower their heads in reverence, remember Triple H’s career, then spend the remaining 2 hours 59 minutes passionately discussing how awesome Triple H was. His haircut is never mentioned, because he’s excited to steal Undertaker’s “I shaved my head, that means I mean BUSINESS” thing at WrestleMania.
4. Jerry “The King” Lawler in a FIGHTIN’ MOOD, and by “fightin’” I mean making an upset face and shaking his head, then saying something racist.
5. Heath Slater losing to … oh, let’s say, Moe.
As always, the ten best/funniest/most appropriate/most directly Watchmen-referencing comments from tonight’s open discussion thread will be featured in tomorrow’s Best And Worst Of WWE Raw report. To nominate a comment for Top 10 status, please reply to it with a +1. We’re officially calling a moratorium on Jerry Lawler Is A Child Rapist jokes, because as appropriate as they are, they aren’t a good look.
Enjoy the show, everybody, and remember to stop by our loosely-organized picnic thing at CHIKARA’s King Of Trios this weekend. You’ll meet some of the stars of these open threads (like THESTINGER, who is bringing snacks) and awkwardly talk to me about wrestling for a while before we all go get in line. DON’T MISS IT.
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So we’re collectively ignoring the paedophilia now? No one has any jokes they’d like to make?
Perhaps during the broadcast King stumbled onto previous Open Discussion Threads and realised what the IWC thought of him and the strain was too much to bear.
Never Forget: Akeem and Big Boss Man.
I will always dislike Lawler on commentary. But please get well, Jerry. Get well, and then retire, with the good health you have left.
What a mix bag of raw that was. There was a lot of filler but and a bit of crap (Sheamus in a court setting was freaking terrible), but, it definitely finished strong with Punk and Cena’s interaction. If only more wrestlers could inspire Cena to work a mic like that every Monday night.
I hope Lawler fully recovers. I wish him the best of health. Maybe this might be his sign to slow it down and leave? Not likeky.
One good thing that came out of last night was that the EMTs had to cut off Lawler’s Affliction T-shirt to get to him.
A weird thing to think about is that the heart attack happening when it did, while Jerry was on air during Raw, could have saved his life. EMTs were by his side within seconds. Had he been in his hotel room or in his car or anywhere else… Just something that’s been playing on my mind today.
I saw the reports on Twitter about The King before watching the show. I have actually had the chance to meet Jerry on a couple of occasions in Memphis (we have some mutual acquaintances), and can say that away from his character, Jerry is one of the most friendly and genuine people you’d want to talk to. Many thoughts and prayers for Jerry’s quick recovery. And, after watching the show on DVR this morning…Kudos to Michael Cole for showing true professionalism in the aftermath. It goes to prove that even with some of the ridiculous storylines and characters, those who work in the business are a family and closer to each other than you could imagine. That could not have been easy for anyone to move forward after watching their colleague and friend being taking out of the arena and administered CPR.
If it took damn near killing Jerry Lawler to put Punk over as an effective heel, I can only think its going to take John Cena killing Jim Ross at JR Fan Appreciarion night to make his turn…
So Lawler suffers a heart attack on air and Bret’s still gotta go out there and perform. Cuts close, don’t that one?
Looks like WWE has confirmed it was a heart attack. By now he should have been stented and sent to a recovery unit. Hopefully it didn’t have to result in bypass, as that will sideline him for months, instead of a week or two.
In either case, hopefully he’ll snap back and get back to making us annoyed with his commentary soon. It’s sort of one of those necessary evils, like that annoying little brother. Sure, pretty much everything he says makes you facepalm, but when it disappears for a while, you kind of miss it.
You can recover from a heart attack in a week or two?
Had a scary thought. What if the Punk fan vote was Punk vs Lawler? That would have happened in front of everyone. SMH
You mean the “fan vote”? Yeah, I had the same chill then and when they played the “Don’t Try This At Home” package.
West coast feed was edited. For everyone saying they can see things unfold from a replay, all we saw or heard on this coast was Michael Cole’s very shaken explanation of events and now there’s nothing but silence.
Just insane… :/
Pull through, King. We crack wise, and we hate on the things we don’t like, which is often you, but we can separate the show from the people who bring it to life. We respect you as a person and want you to survive and thrive long after this.
HUGE props to Cole for holding things together like the true pro we don’t often get to see. Some dap for everyone from Del Rio/Kidd onward for doing what they do as well. I’m sure they started getting some idea of what was going on by that point and that their hearts and minds were elsewhere.
And thank you to the With Leather crew for keeping shit real on what turned out to be a scary night of wrestling. Nobody wants something like that to happen *ever*, but it did, and there’s nowhere else in this world I’d rather have been… no other group of intelligent, wise, funny, and thoughtful people capable of dealing with something like this like you did. You guys & gals are a class crew, straight up.
If one good thing can come out of this situation tonight (besides Lawler making a full recovery) is that WWE will stop doing the fake “Owen Voice” during angles. Please if we ever need a moratorium on anything in Pro Wrestling it is this.
Okay, I hate Cena. I think I’ve made this clear basically, like, every time I mention Cena. But he did school Punk on the mic tonight. And that makes me sad. Because the WWE is ruining CM Punk with this Punk vs. Cena story line. They’re absolutely ruining him. Cena has made him look weak on the microphone. And even in defeat (last week during the NHB match with Del Rio), Cena managed to make Punk look like a douche. Personally, I think the WWE should be doing it’s best to make Punk the ultimate heel; absolutely vicious in the ring AND on the mic. Instead, they’re just making him look lame. But the worst, the absolute fucking worst, is that they’re doing this for the benefit of John Cena. It’s not like Cena needs to be any more over. He’s so fucking over he’s under. Fuck, I hate John Cena. Stupid, stupid WWe l0giKz.
Also, best wishes to Jerry Lawler. My hatred for Cena blinded me to the fact that I didn’t include this in my original post. Goddamn it Cena, I hate you. But, you know, get well, King.
RT @jaekrenfrow: If someone in Montreal could be so kind as to pull Jerry Lawler’s strap down, he has a comeback to make.
+awesome
+manly tears
+1
I’ve got something in both my eyes. Sorry about the bedazzler shirt comments King, Get well
For those calling for the show to stop –
Eric LeGrand, paralyzed during Army vs Rutgers, Oct 16 2010. Still finished the game.
Saturday, October 11, 2003, Game 3 of the ALCS, Don Zimmer and Pedro Martinez. Still finished the game.
Al Lucas – AFL football player – died in game/immediately post game. April 10th, 2005. They finished the game.
Jim Pittman, Head Coach of the TCU college football team. Heart Attack Mid Game, died that day 10/30/1971.
Not celebrating any of these, not saying these are all the same, not saying you don’t have the right to criticize if you feel that way. Just felt it was good to point out.
Heck you could bring up the Tulane/Tulsa game from last week.
It is an impossible situation.
You can hear Lawler try to call the match in pain while having a heart attack/stroke/whatever. I don’t care what you say, that is fucking hardcore.
We went back and watched. His last words he struggled to get out. Then there was heavy breathing. Then you could see him in the background holding his arm/chest with a tech speaking to him. It’s awful. Horribly awful.
Indeed.
This was not the night to come home and watch the West Coast feed. From everything I’m hearing in real time, this replay is very very spooky.
So, my BFF and I were obsessed with the Kaufman/Lawler angle like, ten years after it happened (cuz we were freaking 2 when it happened) but we had old VHS tapes of the whole storyline and I kid you not, we knew the whole coffee/slap fight on Letterman word for word. There’s a caricature we drew of the whole thing somewhere. We’d sing the Kaufman taunt for no reason. We were weird little girls. While the Lawler of today might not be my cup of tea, I can’t imagine a time without Lawler in my rasslin life. Hang in there man.
And thanks for being here tonight guys. Majorly bad flashbacks for some of us oldtimers.
Wow, just re-watched the segment and you clearly hear it happen. Disturbing as hell.
Worst Cialis commercial ever….
From Sean Ross Sapp MMA
The request for a Lawler story, and the response. This is what major media worries about [pic.twitter.com]
[twitter.com]
Just saw that. Fucking appalling. Good for him to reply that way.
Ok Scary last hour folks but thanks for the company. Fist drop this condition Lawler!! G’night!
Well that was a strange night of wrasslin’. Best wishes to the King. G’night, folks.
That was a complete roller coaster and I didn’t even come in until the second hour. Well wishes to Lawler, props to Michael Cole, and a big old fuck you to Cena. Your French accent was horrible.
HOLY SHIT, rewinding showed Lawler seizing up at ringside. Heard heavy breathing, then you could see him grab his arm & turn red. :-( That’s awful.
I’m out. I’m going to Youtube to watch Pinkie Pie’s song “Come on Everypony, Smile, Smile Smile”. After tonight’s raw, I need to smile.
+poniesaregoodforyou lol
+BroHoof
The King needs to stop wearing so much embroidery on his shirts, real talk.
RAW’s over and I am drained. Good night everyone, get well soon King.
Lawler has been part of my TV viewing experience longer than anyone on the planet through good and bad. Get well, King.
What a weird night. Having you guys in a Firefox tab made it easier though. Here’s to good news in the morning.
I’d actually hope that Lawler comes back as a heel commentator and Cole gets to take on a JR role, that’d be nice.
yeah, but besides that how was the show?
everything up to the situation was awful.
everything after the situation is nearly impossible to judge.
+Mrs. Lincoln
#gallowshumorhelps
Ah, the ole “How was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?” bit…
So up until Lawler collapsed, was that show really worse than Episode 998. The one that was the only Worst and Worst of WWE Raw.
The real irony is that all the post-Lawler stuff is thing this group would have loved (except Sheamus), but it was, obviously, kind of hard to pay attention.
Nah. This was a good episode aside from that. All the feuds were built logically and there was good wrestling, which is all we really ask for.
Thanks. The live updates and the comments seemed like it was super sucky.
I’m a little bummed Cena & Bret didn’t compare jorts. :(
If there isn’t a Backstage Fallout or something featuring that very thing then WWEFanNation aren’t doing their jobs.
That was a great promo by Cena, but “truth-speaking” Cena can always win that kind of exchange because WWE makes him the highlight of everything they do.
How does anyone stand up to Cena when all he has to do is roll out the fact that he’s always the center of attention?
This…..
True but kayfabe logic is kayfabe logic. I want to a show that makes logical sense.
In an off camera argument, all Punk would have to say is that Cena is where he is because WWE Creative put him there, and held Punk back. But on camera, when Cena pulls that argument, Punk has nothing to come back at him with.
It was a great promo because for tv it was a face making a compelling and logical argument.
Sadly, we all know Cena is where he is because WWE put him there. Not because he earned it by being the best. Stone Cold got to the top on his own by creating his own gimmick and running with it. Cena got some t-shirts and a nice underdog, dynasty storyline.
I hate that Cena narrative because it inherently presupposes “indie” (or I guess in Austin’s case of WCW) wrestling background = legitimacy and homegrown WWE talent = illegitimacy.
Cena is in his position he’s in because the company trusts him and he connects with their target audience better than all. You may not like it but he definitely earned his spot.
I get that kayfabe logic is what it is, but I think where I have the problem is that it’s just bad storytelling that SuperCena can break his comic book character to also be “ShootCena” who can tell the “truth” about someone…when the “truth” is stacked so far in his favor as to make it an obviously one-sided affair.
To me, it’s just another point where the WWE feels like Cena…and then everyone else.
Not that I felt like doling this out tonight, but you’re right. +1
Everyone who almost dies is a saint.
No, but you never want to see someone drop dead on television. And as I said previously, King has been around for so long and was a part of a lot of our childhoods that while we may criticize and make fun of him he is still one of ours(ours being lifelong wrestling fans) and has risked his life and limb for our entertainment(sometimes it wasn’t entertaining, but the risk was still there.) so excuse us while we hope someone that we grew up with didn’t die on air. Get well, King. Hell, make it to Raw 2000.
Unbelievable props to Michael Cole for handling the situation the way he did. To even continue for as long as he did is incredible. During the Sheamus match, I noticed he just kept looking over at the chair and had a befuddled look on his face. Unreal.
Jerry Lawler, get well soon. We love to hate on you, but that doesn’t mean we don’t respect what you’ve done for the wrestling industry.
Best of luck Jerry Lawler. I always wanted you off Raw for making inappropriate comments, not like this sir.
I still can’t believe Punk was attacked by Lucius Malfoy…
He needed to borrow Curt Hawkins’ wand-staff.
He cost him his HOUSE ELF!!!
That explains Bret’s shabby sartorial choices.
I think tonight’s show revealed that Cole is a damn good commentator if he’s not micromanaged.
Well, goodnight everyone. Here’s to hoping I come home to a BEST for Jerry’s successful recovery tomorrow.
Perspective Alert: Can you believe that, about 3 hours ago, we were complaining about the Sheamus Lipschitz sketch?
Hopefully, all will continue to go in the right direction.
Thanks for the reminder
I missed the hour of RAW. Was it funny like the Kane-Bryan segments? I read the transcript on Rajah, but I’m not sure how it would come off on tv.
Seriously. Then the show became emotionally gripping. It even had a pretty encouraging happy ending, and none of that had anything to do with the actual show.
Ya know what would be cool, at the night of champions, Cena beats the crap out of Punk, but Punk ends up barely winning, barely able to stand, and then Ziggler cashes in and pins him. New champ, new storyline.
except Ziggler can only cash on Sheamus
Wrong briefcase
Yeah like the WWE is concerned with logic.
ive seen a lot of people say this tonight.
but the mitb challengers were clearly restricted to each title.
This won’t happen, but how awesome would it be if cptsarcasm’s scenario DID happen, followed by AJ trying to enforce the “red briefcase = WWE title, blue = WHC” followed by Ziggler destroying her with a “when the Raw GM put my BLUE briefcase on the line, I earned the right to go for the WWE title!”?
*Sigh* if only…
Well what a night, WithLeather gang.
Godspeed, Jerry Lawler. I love to hate you, but I can’t do that unless you and your ugly wardrobe are behind that announce booth, alive and kicking. Get well soon, King.
given the way cole handled everything tonight, i’d love to see him get away from the sensationalism/hyperboleboner of WWE commentary every now and then and get back to broadcast journalist roots. obviously not going to happen, but the man has talent far beyond ringside.
enjoyed the contributions this evening. best to jerry & all of you kids in the intercyberspacewebs.
Watching the replay and Lawler’s voice pops in really freaked me out there.
I rewound (rewinded?) it, because I didn’t pay attention to it as it was happening. Hearing his voice drop was kinda terrifying. It’s strange to be able to watch it happen in real-time.
Finishing with good news is wonderful. Stabilized, breathing, and his heart beating on his own are pretty much the best we could hope for.
Bestest Best to Cole for handling it like a pro.
Bestest Best to the Paramedics for doing their job.
Bestest Best to King for good health.