So...Raw...

Am I the only one that thinks that having Cena take on two non-fighting opponents in a row sucks just a little? It means week after week we get contrived plots to keep him busy as he can't fight The Rock or Lesnar.

Also, the Kane-Orton farce continues on. Does anybody actually care about it?

Still, they do have Punk and Jericho, which promises a good match. But the rest of it...so so...

Oh, and go, go Jeff Hardy, beating the Olympic Shamster at Lockdown!

Well, the feud with The Rock could certainly have used more physicality, but I'm actually enjoying the stuff with Lesnar. They have got physical the last couple of weeks, and I loved Brocks promo this week - he was never going to come to London after all. Working it into an angle with Johnny Ace gives them more scope to do stuff without Lesnar, so it hopefully won't lag as much as the feud with Rocky.

I can actually see Cena losing by taking a real beating. He then disappears for a couple of months. Meanwhile, Lesnar is dominant. Cena returns with a fresh look to take him out at Summerslam.

I actually got curious to look at what was going on with Cena vs Lesnar lately, and I thought that the previous Raw was fantastic in that regard.

Actually, i'm sort of liking all of this lately. On one, admittedly base level I do admit i'm liking watching Cena get bitched out, lately. But that's kind of shallow of me. On a fairer level, I think it's actually making Cena kind of relatable, again.

But as far as story, I kind of like it, too. In my opinion, this massive losing streak is exactly what Cena has needed for a long time, now. It definitely goes a long way to start chipping away at that "SuperCena" criticism that he's had for a long time, now.

Cena is looking really vulnerable for once. Making him.... shock of all shocks... a somewhat relatable and interesting character for ONCE.

I don't think the Cena character has EVER given this much of legitimacy and momentum to his opponent as much as he's done here, and it's working massively well, I think.

He's doubting himself, he's scared, he's on the defensive, and Cena for once, is the underdog. Not the "beat all the odds like a stupid superhero" underdog, but finally the legitimate underdog that WWE has always wanted the fans to believe he was, except now he actually looks the part.

Although, as David says, this is really looking like it's also leading up to Cena's much needed vacation from wrestling, finally.

I'd say, Brock beats the fuck out of him at Extreme Rules and he takes a 3 month vacation, after admitting the next Raw that the Rock loss really got to him and that's why he feels like he's let us down, and he needs to leave for a bit, to get his head back on straight.

Frankly, a lot of people have been saying that WWE's main problem right now is that they haven't been looking at the long term, or building up future main event stars like they should have been, such as Cody Rhodes or Dolph Ziggler, so I think that this is slowly getting to a place where, they can finally begin to do this.

Brock, as we all know, is only back for the short term, and to be a ratings draw. I think that after Brock destroys Cena, then Brock will take a short absence as well, leaving the situation right to start creating those new top-teir talents and start putting them over as top guys, so that when Cena returns, he can be in among them and accepted with them, for Cena to find that the landscape has changed in the time he's been gone.


I've said for a while now that WWE has lost me and that I was losing my love for it and havn't been watching. But things are, at least, interesting right now, enough for me to really start caring just a bit more.

Not that they've really pulled me back in, but right now, between Cena vs Brock and the amazingly good Punk vs Jericho (Which i'll just say, is FINALLY a return to the good old, really personal mega-intense feuds that I used to love so much in the Attitude era), have both started to make me interesed in where they are going right now.

BTW, that pub that CM Punk was walking into on RAW. Its called the Pilot Inn and is right by the River Thames about 5 minutes walk from the O2 Arena. Its quite a nice little pub, particularly to sit outside in the Summer. Been in there a few times.

I think my problem with Cena-Lesnar isn't so much that match but the fact it's come straight after the Rock bit. They have got more physical but Lesnar hasn't had a match yet. Again, that would have been better for me if The Rock hadn't been so words only for the majority of the feud.

I do agree on the idea of what happens to Cena post PPV, tho. That would be a good idea.

i see what your saying myron.

the main difference here is with the rock we had to wait like six months for him to get into the ring.

with brock were waiting another two weeks i think it is.

And I think another difference is that in many people's minds, the Rock was now "that actor who used to wrestle". He was smiling and preening and attending movie premieres and flexing his pecs. He didn't look like someone you would be scared to fight.

Whereas Lesnar looks like a killer. He looks like he'd walk into your house on Christmas morning, piss on your kids, take your wife over the kitchen table, steal the turkey, bitch slap you purple on the way out, and dare you to do somethng about it....

.....then tear your face off if you did.

Even with the weaker end to his UFC career, in people's mind this guy is a legitimate monster who can and will hurt Cena. That image, and the way the WWE is playing it, makes a big difference.

Totally. Lesnar has threat, Rock not so much. Even when he's not being physical Lesnar is more threatening. So Cena-lesnar does work for me just not as much as if it hadn't come on the end of the Rock saga. Too litle wrestling there making this one seem longer than it is.

OK...I'll pick up the thread with this weeks show. Nice to see more of Lesnar and Cena and I like what they did with the Edge stuff (what on Earth has he done to his hair???). I would still have liked Lesnar to have wrestled more but there you go.

I also liked the Punk/Jericho stuff. The feud is going along nicely and it was good to see Jericho in the ring too.

Nice to Santino but US title on the pre-show at the PPV? Shows just how much they value the title. They do seem to be putting something together for the tag belts but I could be wrong.

Kane-Orton...another week, another farce. After the stunning originality of Cowboy Bob now they wheel Bearer out. Don't get me wrong, I love PB. But this was nothing new and just showed how dry they have run for ideas for the feud.

Plus, as DS and I discussed it made no sense. If Kane rescues PB then it makes a mockery of him being a monster who cares about nothing. Glad they didn't go down that road. But that means Orton looks dumb for trying it - why kindap somebody when you know the other guys a monster that doesn't care?

And wasn't Orton the future of the WWE at one stage? The big thing. When he was in Evolution it looked like his days were golden. Now they don't seem to know what to do with him. His star has been tarnished by him being an idiot but, even so, the writing seems to have gone south for him.

I think the pre-show thing is less about how they undervalue the title, and more to do with this obsession they have at the moment for spreading across all medias. Vince wants to monopolise Twitter and Youtube now.

As for Orton, he has definitely lost momentum, and I can see why. While I think Orton can usually be relied upon to put on a solid and decent match, I can't say I have ever been excited about his matches, or really look forward to them them in the same way I do for other matches. He's a hard character and guy to get behind - either loving him or hating him.

I guess, on the US title. I saw it more like the dark matches but it's a good point on the other media.

I agree on Orton. I do think he makes a better villian than a good guy but he does stroke you as soild but not exciting.