RAW LD, March 4th 2019 - Attention Seeking

[FunKay]

https://youtu.be/XTlH5UA4Cfk
Anyone else remember this one?

"I walk for miles inside this pit of danger. A place where no one follows me. I walk alone!" So claims the lyrics of Saliva's theme for one Dave Ba(u)tista, and did he ever live up to these words. The mid-00's main event titan returned last week to make an impact, taking out Ric Flair on his 70th birthday and demanding Triple H's attention. We seem destined for a crash course into WrestleMania between the two former Evolution stablemates, but how we get there is another thing entirely. Prepare for ruffled foreheads galore and sweat filled intensity!

Elsewhere, Roman Reigns is in remission! Fucking a'! And he's back! Blimey Charlie! He immediately made his presence felt by assisting Seth Rollins in combating Baron Corbin and his League of Villainy (Lashley, McIntyre and Elias) and in turn saving the supposedly departing Dean Ambrose. Hmmmm, curiouser and curiouser... What does the future holds for "The Big Dog", his SHIELD brethren and their affiliated rivals?

Also, Ronda Rousey laid down the RAW Women's title in protest over the way the Becky Lynch situation was handled. Is it vacated? Will the McMahon's cave to pressure applied to the UFC Hall of Famer, who openly admitted she didn't need WWE? Almost like they did this deliberately to hook us in or something...

[smarkmouth]

I kinda miss the RAW theme song. At the very least Michael Cole should sing his cold open.

[smarkmouth]

Aw man, I'm so happy that Roman is back, but I do not want this to be a Triple Threat.

A Fatal Four Way, however... ?

[TheManTheyCalledNorCal]

IS THIS HAPPENING

[smarkmouth]

Two weeks of Roman getting to be Roman on the mic. He's damn good!

[TheManTheyCalledNorCal]

This could potentially be the greatest heel turn ever.

Not gonna happen.

But could.

[smarkmouth]

It's a shame that they went in such an objectively poor direction with Dean's heel turn. A guy acting out because he doesn't know what to do with his pain is so fucking compelling, and would really inform where we are today.

[smarkmouth]

Kurt Angle vs who at this point? He's one of my all time favourites but I'm not enticed by any possible match for him at WrestleMania.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

WWE hates champions

[TheManTheyCalledNorCal]

THAT WAS FUCKING AMAZING

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Can Black and Ricochet do the unthinkable? As in beat the Revival?

:lmao:

[TheManTheyCalledNorCal]

Ascension :(

[Skairipa]

How many times does Nattie need to beat Ruby? Also Lacey continues to be worthless, but the fact commentary hypes her up so much makes me fear she's facing Asuka at Mania.

[smarkmouth]

How many times does Nattie need to beat Ruby? Also Lacey continues to be worthless, but the fact commentary hypes her up so much makes me fear she's facing Asuka at Mania.
Asuka should just defend and win in the Women's Battle Royal, because seriously, there are NO good programs for her right now.

I think Dave is trying too hard to get out of his Disney contract. Attacking the elderly is just too much.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

With that nose ring, Batista has everyone's attention

[TheManTheyCalledNorCal]

THIS.
MAKES.
NO.
SENSE.

[smarkmouth]

Oh Hunter, leave the worked shoots for Ronda on Twitter.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I can't believe it's finally "weekly reminder that HHH is really not that good at long promos" season

[Skairipa]

Asuka should just defend and win in the Women's Battle Royal, because seriously, there are NO good programs for her right now.

I think Dave is trying too hard to get out of his Disney contract. Attacking the elderly is just too much.

Yeah I wouldn't mind Nikki Cross getting a match with her but she's vanished, so I'd say just give her a multi person match and let her retain, then they can send someone to SD post mania to be a real feud for her.

[klunderbunker]

I'm liking this.

[smarkmouth]

Paul versus Dave sounds more like hockey dads fighting.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

STEPHANIE JUST GET OUT OF THIS FEUD ALREADY

[Skairipa]

So....Becky is just suddenly not suspended because Steph says so? That's disappointing. And the championship is vacated? This is all so weird.

[klunderbunker]

The McMahon logic continues to amaze me.

[smarkmouth]

I'm liking this.
Good guy Triple H does very little for me, but once he got intense it was quite excellent!

[smarkmouth]

Would like to observe that none of us have Otis or Tucker in the Pool, and they banked 15 points each right now.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Nothing more exciting than a staredown.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Poor EC3

[klunderbunker]

Your latest WHY Hall of Fame entrant.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Your latest WHY Hall of Fame entrant.

They have to put a woman in each year, and really who else is there?

[smarkmouth]

It doesn't say much about RAW's Women's division when the top contenders for the title are from Smackdown.

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Wwe has turned a once exciting move (dive through the ropes ) into something as common as a chest chop now.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I know they just HAD to have Fastlane, but could they build Rollins vs Lesnar a little bit?

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Ya, I can't believe another PPV is this Sunday and we just had a PPV the other week.

[klunderbunker]

They have to put a woman in each year, and really who else is there?

I'm sure I could think of at least a dozen or so better options.

[smarkmouth]

I'll admit that this return was superficial and is poised against lackluster opposition, but I'm going to pop the moment I hear "Sierra".

[smarkmouth]

SHIELD's special entrance theme for Fastlane.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGBhQbmPwH8

[smarkmouth]

Well I guess Che and Jost are fighting Braun and Nicolas at WrestleMania.

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Who were these normal folk Braun was messing with? Also, lol @ Revival getting no TV entrance being the fucking champions defending their titles.

[Skairipa]

They have to put a woman in each year, and really who else is there?

Victoria or Molly Holly would have been a much better choice off the top of my head. I'm sure there's plenty more.

[smarkmouth]

Last week's RAW was so goood.

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Shes here and mad because she left her title behind last week and she bought leggings too small at the local Wal-Mart, somebody has to pay.

[Skairipa]

Ronda heel turn.

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Good, might as well be heel.

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

What kind of weird ass sneakers is Becky wearing, wings?

[klunderbunker]

AND LET'S GO TO STEPHANIE ONE MORE TIME!!!

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Stephanie ends the show because why would Ronda, Becky, or Charlotte get to end the show?

[klunderbunker]

My goodness she's still talking.

[Skairipa]

That was probably the best promo from Ronda yet. Screw Steph hogging the spotlight though.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I've said this a million times, but it still blows my mind that Stephanie had to get involved in this feud.

[smarkmouth]

I think Ronda ran quick on her promo and Steph was forced to fill time at Gorilla.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I think Ronda ran quick on her promo and Steph was forced to fill time at Gorilla.

If so, they could've interviewed Charlotte.

[Storm Trooper]

I think Ronda ran quick on her promo and Steph was forced to fill time at Gorilla.

This is exactly what happened.

And yes, they could have gone to Charlotte but in all fairness the opinion of the person who unvacated the championship and seemingly put her top star in serious jeopardy is actually a better option.

Chatlotte was a 1 question interview ("why didn't you get involved?") Whereas Stephanie could better fill the 3 minutes or so they needed.

[smarkmouth]

Yeah, they could have interviewed Charlotte but Steph has a lot of stake in this match and in WWE, ergo can fill more time than Charlotte who only had stake in the match. Steph was the safer bet.

That being said, Steph said very forgettable, generic phrases when put in an ad lib scenario. I see why McMahon's favour scripted content.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

i just love women's triple threat title matches. Seriously, WWE doesn't do them enough! Wait, SummerSlam and TLC both had them. Ergh.

[klunderbunker]

Monday Night Raw
Date: March 4, 2019
Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

It’s the go home show for Fastlane and since we only have four matches set for the show, you can expect to have a lot of matches announced for Sunday tonight. That’s not the best way to do things in the world but it’s the only way they can go given how little WWE seems to care about the show. Let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

At Least They're Trying (http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/03/04/monday-night-raw-march-4-2019-at-least-theyre-trying/)

[Jack-Hammer]

I enjoyed last night's show overall. The wrestling was pretty substandard, but I'm enjoying the storylines coming about. They're far more interesting than anything WWE was doing for WrestleMania last year and there at least seems to be a genuine effort going on here to build things up. I just think there's still too much emphasis on people like Baron Corbin, Nia Jax and Tamina as they're little more than dead weight dragging things down in my eyes.

Triple H's segment....I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I get where they were going and what they were going for, it's just difficult to see Triple H in the role of a highly grief, emotional, tearful guy considering what a scheming, sociopathic bastard he's portrayed over most of the last 20 years. Also, the whole thing about this not being about characters and not about selling something....again, I get what they were trying to do and part of me was into it while part of me just kind of rolled my eyes but, then again, maybe that's mostly the cynic in me. Still, they put out a genuinely solid effort and went about it in a way that makes the match between Triple H and Batista at WrestleMania come off as somewhat interesting. I care more about it than I did last week, which wasn't at all, so they're heading in the right direction.

The closing segment came off, for me, as a lot of fun. I would still prefer this simply be Becky vs. Ronda in a 1 on 1 outing but, again, they're going about things in a different way. Becky came off like the scrappy, fiery babyface she is, Charlotte was a scheming bitch and Rousey was simultaneously a badass and a whiny little bitch. If the intention was to turn fans against Rousey, then mission accomplished overall as she came off like an entitled elitist who's gotten used to having everything going her way and doesn't handle adversity very well. But, she's not a chicken shit, so that makes for a nice change of pace in regards to her coming off so entitled. Also, for me, there was too much Stephanie on the show last night; there's always been a dislikable quality about Stephanie that, for me, has nothing to do with her playing a heel. Maybe it does stem from that as she does a great job with her character and always has, but I will say that I'm extremely glad that WWE didn't go with the rumored story of basically having Steph and Ronda recreate the Stone Cold vs. Mr. McMahon rivalry.

Overall, I give last night's show a C, MAYBE a C+. Not exactly a stellar score considering it's WrestleMania season but you also have to take into account how much Raw sucked throughout most of last year, including during the WrestleMania build where so much was centered around Reigns vs. Lesnar, yet again. All in all though, it's a good score considering there really wasn't much wrestling content worth watching last night.