WWE Raw Open Discussion Thread 1/28/13: So, Uh, This Happened

Written by Brandon Stroud / 01.28.13

Hey, you! Be sure you’ve read The Best And Worst Of WWE Royal Rumble 2013 before watching Raw.

Tonight, on the WWE Raw Open Discussion Thread:

There will be no Day 435 for CM Punk’s WWE Championship reign. The Straight Edge Superstar’s near unprecedented run as WWE Champion ran into a brick wall at the 2013 Royal Rumble when Punk lost his precious prize to The Rock in a highly anticipated, hotly contested match that took both Superstars to the brink. Now that The People’s Champion has made good on his promise to claim the WWE Title once more, though, what awaits on Day 1 of The Rock’s new title reign? And with John Cena having won the Royal Rumble Match, earning a World Title challenge of his choice at WrestleMania, will that throw a wrench into Punk’s plans for a rematch? (via WWE.com)

Five-point preview:

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The Best And Worst Of WWE Raw 1/21/13: Royal Rumble Is Going To Be A Slobberknocker

Written by Brandon Stroud / 01.22.13

Rock blood WWE Raw

Pre-show notes:

- Comments, shares, likes, and especially Reddit submissions/up votes are appreciated. I need to make dollars to keep this job, and links to my stuff showing up on places not run by me create DOLLARS. Create MILLIONS OF THEM.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- The RSPW Awards are going on right now, and for the first time ever, I’m going to be voting/writing about my votes for it. Go participate/look at it/whatever! It’s one of those longtime things I’ve wanted to do, alongside “bring back DDT Digest” and “have CRZ not be a dickhole to me once.”

- As I mentioned last week, I’m going to be in the house for National Pro Wrestling Day in Philadelphia on February 2. Many of the core Wrestling Bros will be there, including Impact columnist Danielle Matheson, The Wrestling Blog’s Tom Holzerman, site favorite THESTINGER, Jojo motherf**king Bravo and more, so if you’re anywhere near Philadelphia (or if you live in Texas like me and like wrestling more than other stuff) get there and hang out with us. It’s going to be the BEST.

Until then, please click through for the Best And Worst Of WWE Raw for January 21, 2013. The Rock is on this episode!

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The Best And Worst Of WWE Raw 1/14/13: Knockin’ On Weight Watchers’ Door, Get It, You’re Fat

Written by Brandon Stroud / 01.15.13

Pre-show notes:

- Comments, shares, likes, and especially Reddit submissions/up votes are appreciated. I will also accept Pinterest shares, if you are reading this and are Destiny.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- GIFS courtesy of Jerusalem at Punchsport Pagoda.

- If you’d like to laugh at something wrestling-related that ISN’T the Best and Worst of Raw report, make sure you check out my thorough gallery of old WCW promo photos. Part 2 is going up tomorrow, so check back for that, as well.

- (tomorrow is my birthday, don’t tell anybody)
(and don’t feel like you’ve got to fill up the comments section with birthday messages, just share these columns and stuff.)

- I am going to be LIVE AND IN THE HOUSE AND THE ST. LOUIS ANARCHY REP IN THE REY DE VOLADORES TOURNAMENT for National Pro Wrestling Day in Philadelphia on February 2. If you want to hang out and say hi and see some great wrestling, come to this thing.

- Due to time restrictions I’m not going to be able to throw a Jack Swagger Of Mars into this week’s report, but all that means is that you’ll get a double-shot next week. Or I’ll just write all the middle chapters at once and put them in a big finale piece. Whatever you wanna do.

Until then, please click through for the Best And Worst Of WWE Raw for January 14, 2013.

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WWE Raw 20th Anniversary Open Discussion Thread: Also, There Will Be Singing

Written by Brandon Stroud / 01.14.13
WWE Rock Concert

This is what happened during the LAST Rock Concert, in case you forgot.

Tonight, on a very special WWE Raw 20th Anniversary open discussion thread:

Twenty years ago, Mr. McMahon’s idea for a gritty, cutting edge show became reality when Monday Night Raw debuted live from the Manhattan Center in New York City on Jan. 11, 1993..

Now, Raw stands as the longest-running weekly episodic television show in history What will unfold when The Most Electrifying Man in All of Entertainment comes to Raw to perform a Rock Concert? Here are five reasons you don’t want to miss the historic television event tonight at 8/7 CT on USA Network! (via WWE.com)

Our five-point preview:

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More T&A Please: A Definitive Gallery Of Trish Stratus For Her 37th Birthday

Written by Ashley Burns / 12.18.12

For some reason along the lines of “F*ck it, I was bored”, I was checking out celebrity birthdays yesterday and I noticed a strange coincidence about celebrity birthdays for today, December 18. Celebrating birthdays today are “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam and Trish Stratus. They, of course, all share one main thing in common – those aren’t their real names. Oh, and I’ve also been told that they’re each professional wrestlers who had notable stints in the WWE. I’m still waiting on our fact-checking team to get back to me on that one.

Austin (Steven Anderson) turns 48 today and has since gone on to make forgettable films that I otherwise love, like the hilariously watchable The Condemned, and Knockout, in which Austin plays a janitor who – and I cannot make this up – mentors a bullied teen to fight back against the school’s boxing champion. Rob Van Dam (Robert Szatkowski) turns 42 today, and he also tried his hand at awful action films like Wrong Side of Town and Black Mask 2, but wisely returned to TNA, where he is currently the X Division champion.

As much as I have appreciated the wrasslin’ efforts of those gentlemen over the years, they’re just not as inspiring as Stratus (Patricia Stratigias) when it comes to putting together a little tribute like this one. I can’t really put my finger on it, but Stratus just has that certain something that makes it easier to concentrate. She was really good at what she did in the WWE, I think is the point that I’m trying to make, and some people have told me that she’s also attractive.

Again, the fact-checkers are hard at work on that one for me, too. In the meantime, please enjoy our tribute to the First Lady of Stratusfaction on her 37th birthday.

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The Best And Worst Of WWE Raw 12/3/12: CM Punk, In The Case Of 32-Year Old The Miz, You Are NOT The Father

Written by Brandon Stroud / 12.04.12

WWE Raw lie detector

Pre-show notes:

- Comments, shares, likes, what-have-you are immensely appreciated. I’ve we’ve got 3,000 comments on the open discussion threads, we can crack 200 on the thing that takes me like 7 hours to write.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- If you didn’t check it out last week, I got together an all-star crew to re-list WWE’s 50 Most Beautiful People In Sports-Entertainment History. The judging panel included Grantland’s Dave Shoemaker, leading Internet Comic Book Guy Chris Sims, WWE Superstar USA Guy and Dale from ‘Greek.’ It was pretty amazing. Give it a flip-through, try not to complain about slideshows and drop a comment, even if it’s to tell me you hate me for not properly evaluating Ivory, or whatever.

- If you live in the Virginia/Tennessee area, I will be attending the NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling show on the 14th of December, so if you know who I am, come by and say hi. I will need a few people there who are not toothless and yelling at me.

Now, please click through to enjoy the Best And Worst Of WWE Raw for December 3, 2012.

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