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WWE WrestleMania 35 Preview/Predictions
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
NXT TakeOver: New York (or TakeOver: Brooklyn V?) came, conquered and impressed everyone in all its glory.
300-pound Heavyweight Hanson performed a handspring back elbow and a top rope senton to the floor, Velveteen Dream was the GODDAMN STATUE OF LIBERTY and the main event between Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole delivered more wows than a summer blockbuster.
To be frank – WrestleMania will pale in comparison to its NXT counterpart and that’s to put it nicely, despite the fact that Mania will run more than twice the amount of time and contain more than three times as many matches.
Below are our predictions to shape Mania into a halfway decent show. If you’ve followed the Raw side (without falling asleep), the build has been abysmal while SmackDown has held themselves together better thanks to Kofi Kingston’s journey, but there are still some flaws here and there.
Let’s get to it.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 2/13/17: Festival Of Friendship
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 2/13/17)
Festival Of Friendship
– Raw was in Las Vegas, we had a big WWE Raw Women’s Championship rematch between Champion Charlotte and Bayley and above all else, a “Festival Of Friendship” WWE United States Champion Chris Jericho was throwing for WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens. Add up all the ingredients and figure out where it can possibly go wrong. Exactly. To start the show, out came Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, which meant we got the old-fashioned 20-minute talking promo. Vintage Raw. She “gave” General Manager Mick Foley “the week off” and emasculated him without his presence this time. She went for the classic hometown cheap pop. Lord. Here comes Roman Reigns. Just why? This “Big Dog” nickname sounds so forced and won’t ever catch on. He demanded Braun Strowman, even though he’s guaranteed to face him at Fastlane on Mar. 5., like bro, can’t you wait? Real world exercise – ask your boss for your vacation and then a month before it approaches, demand it right now. See how that works out for you. From Steph’s point of view, why on earth would she oblige? We’re reminded she’s a heel and gets the crowd worked up for the prospect of it happening and then does the “boss” thing and prevents it because “she cares.” Cue the boos. She does announce that Strowman would face Mark Henry later. That sounds nice. She’s the boss, so she threatened Reigns and teased taking away the FL match and subsequent WrestleMania bonus. Reigns only got more aggressive in his stance, which drew WWE Raw Tag Team Champions, Luke Gallows/Karl Anderson. This can’t be good. They sucked up to Steph and suggested a Handicap match. Why wouldn’t she? Anderson sported a Club shirt that had similar fonts to the classic Bullet Club tee. Oh, subtle copying. Cue a mini-“brawl” where Referees have to pull them apart before we go to break. Let’s get to the match portion of things. Not much to write here, as the “numbers game” ran the pace, though Reigns powered in some offense. For some reason, the Champs ignored requests from the Referee to not beatdown their single opponent and were disqualified. Meh. Reigns fought out of the Magic Killer and then walked away. The Tag Champs don’t look any stronger and neither did Reigns. What exactly was this supposed to be?
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 12/26/16: Multitasking Mayhem
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 12/26/16)
Multitasking Mayhem
– The opening video pleasantly recapped recent storylines – Braun Strowman will toss everyone around (particularly Sin Cara into Christmas Trees) in pursuit of Sami Zayn, who “defeated” him at Roadblock: End Of The Line. Strowman entered himself into the main event picture to target WWE United States Champion Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, much to the delight of WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 12/19/16: … Or Else
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 12/19/16)
… Or Else
– The WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens/Chris Jericho/General Manager Mick Foley opening in-ring segment mostly succeeded in setting up the night’s main event and even the Royal Rumble Universal Title match with a worthy twist, albeit one recently seen at NXT TakeOver: Toronto. This was just the Jeri-KO duo back in good graces, then we got some Jericho “List” comedy as he put Santa Claus on the list. The “Hug Of Jericho” bit was also funny. Foley served as the “holiday comedy authority guy” as he donned a ridiculous Christmas sweater and informed the heels of his Rumble plans, where Owens would defend against WWE United States Champion Roman Reigns again and this time, to prevent interference, Jericho would be suspended in the air in a shark cage. The fanny pack bit was chucklesome, as they put Jericho in the cage and actually suspended him above, with the idea that Foley “left the keys behind.” Some tough moments on the mic as Foley did the cheap pop, but named the wrong town. Jeri-KO get props for rescuing him and received good heel heat at the same time. If it wasn’t for the fact that they already announced the tag team main event where Jeri-KO would face Reigns/Rollins, we would’ve been interested to see Jericho hang above the ring for the whole show.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 11/14/16: On The Same Page
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 11/14/16)
On The Same Page
– With this the go-home show before Survivor Series, we expected to see “strange bedfellows” as the prominent theme, but could only imagine how much of the show it’d consume. Anyways, the opening segment with General Manager Mick Foley, Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, Seth Rollins, WWE United States Champion Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Chris Jericho, WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens, WWE Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, The Shining Stars, Cesaro, Sheamus, Enzo Amore, Big Cass, Sasha Banks, WWE Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte, Bayley, Nia Jax and Alicia Fox was packed, but set the show off right. Steph hyped the appearance of SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan and SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon for later in a “Survivor Series Summit” and addressed how she wanted everyone to work well together or there’d be changes. Foley booked Cesaro/Sheamus against Owens/Reigns. Steph booked Rollins/Strowman/Jericho against ND. Foley booked Banks/Charlotte against Jax/Fox. At least we had stuff to look forward to, but damn.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 10/31/16: An Emphatic Deliverance
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 10/31/16)
An Emphatic Deliverance
– The opening in-ring segment with Goldberg, Paul Heyman and Rusev was newsworthy to say the least. Sure, Goldberg’s the biggest Survivor Series draw, so they were smart to have him appear here. Now, his reaction from the fans was polite, but lacked the electricity from his Denver promo. We did like that Heyman was back to his old-school heel ways as he fished for heat. With that, he added a “Gotcha!” moment as he teased an appearance from his client Brock Lesnar and revealed he wasn’t there. As far as Rusev’s involvement, it made sense for him to approach Goldberg to downplay his ego and legend status only to suffer a jackknife for his troubles. The Lana chants were loud enough where he should’ve acknowledged them for more heat, but it was what it was. Many people will point out “The Slip” as a severe critique that Goldberg circa 2016 is a mistake, but we thought he covered up well, as he sold it like a pseudo-takedown. The biggest reaction was rightfully the spear on Heyman, which left us to wonder how Lesnar would respond. With two more weeks of SS hype to go, let’s hope they intensify it with a brawl or something like that.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 10/24/16: The Missing List Of Jericho
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 10/24/16)
The Missing List Of Jericho
– With Hell In A Cell six days away and a decent Triple-Threat main event that pit Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins and WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens together and also another “Homecoming” for Brock Lesnar, we had some glitz to the go-home glamour. The in-ring segment with Rollins, Owens, Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and Jericho put the focus on the most entertaining part of the Rollins-Owens feud – the “best friendship” with Owens and Jericho. This time, the “twist” was that Jericho’s beloved List Of Jericho had been stolen. It says a lot about Jericho that he managed to get a big reaction from people about a fictional list. It was a classic Jericho sit-in, as he claimed the main event wouldn’t happen without his list. Owens’ involvement here raised our interest a bit since the first question was if he had the list, which he didn’t. Steph’s involvement made sense since she wanted Owens/Jericho on the same page to take out Rollins. Rollins here brought everything together as he possessed the list and took more cutesy jabs at the best friends’ with what he claimed was on the list. He finally brought it home as he used “list” terminology to sell their HIAC encounter with what injuries Owen would sustain. We also liked that he put over how he was victorious in the structure, which was an advantage he had. The hook here was that Rollins walked away with the list, which sent Jericho into a frenzy. Entertaining stuff.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 10/17/16: Goldberg Returns
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 10/17/16)
Goldberg Returns
– With two weeks to go before yet another Pay-Per-View in Hell In A Cell, we started things off with arguably WWE’s most over duo – WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens/Chris Jericho. Their in-ring promo was excellent heel work, as Owens accused that Raw General Manager Mick Foley had a vendetta against him for his placement in the HIAC structure. Jericho drove the point home that HIAC wasn’t a reward and put over the dangers. Thank god. Jericho also mentioned how many legends he beat and that he should’ve beat Seth Rollins last week to get in on the HIAC Universal Title match, but “bad officiating” cost him. They also played up the legitimacy of Owens/Jericho’s friendship once more with Rollins’ help, which the live crowd took to. Rollins was more cutesy than usual (almost Roman Reigns-like) but because his target was Jericho, “Sparkle Crotch” went over well. We also had Rollins point out his two pedigrees on Jericho while Owens watched, to which the Champ’s retort was that Rollins only saw the worst in people and that was why he didn’t have any friends. Rollins suggested a rematch with Jericho, as we saw Jericho tell Owens he didn’t want him at ringside this time because he “knew his tricks.” They’ve teased the right amount of tension between Jericho/Owens, while Rollins slowly gets over as a babyface in the process.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 10/10/16: Reality “Seths” In
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 10/10/16)
Reality “Seths” In
– Raw came from the Bay Area this week and after Sasha Banks regained the WWE Raw Women’s Championship from Charlotte in Los Angeles last week, they were smart to follow up with Banks coming out first. She actually had a moment to establish an “inspirational” character as she spoke about how she watched WWE at a young age and looked up to Eddie Guerrero, Trish Stratus and Lita as role models. Now she stood as a lady who could main event the show and fly around the ring. That’s a hybrid if there ever was one. Anyways, the big news here was Banks’ proposal to give Charlotte her Hell In A Cell rematch in the infamous structure. Huge pop. We were interested to hear Charlotte’s response before she was interrupted by Rusev/Lana. Rusev looked a bit different with facial hair and not in a good way either. He showed more misogynistic tendencies as he snatched the mic from Charlotte and claimed nobody cared about the ladies. Charlotte snatched it back and accepted the HIAC challenge before Rusev grabbed it back and called her a “Black swan.” Banks grabbed it before Lana called them “lost women who needed to know their place.” In an odd twist, we saw Charlotte/Banks team up to clear the heels from the ring. WWE United States Champion Roman Reigns came out to boos as he approached the ring. Rusev went back in and again backed away from the Champ. We liked the female alliance despite their stance as enemies for the greater good. We’d guess a mixed tag of sorts, though it looked like it should be Banks/Charlotte against Rusev/Lana based off that.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 9/19/16: Clash Of Emotions
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 9/19/16)
Clash Of Emotions
– With this the go-home show before Raw’s exclusive Pay-Per-View, Clash Of Champions, WWE had some final touches to put on the card. We hoped for the best with a few standouts, but could always be skeptical. The opening video took us back to last week when we saw everybody’s favorite “bad wrestler” Roman Reigns get screwed over twice in an attempt to put himself in the same COC main event for the WWE Universal Championship between WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins. This, of course, happened because of Rollins’ rage that he couldn’t get his hands on Owens sooner, to the point where he even ignored a warning from Raw General Manager Mick Foley not to interfere. The other cause was from WWE United States Champion Rusev, who distracted Reigns to help Owens get the victory. We also knew that Foley would “have a talk” with Rollins. We’d have this week to continue the obvious storyline of attempts to get Rollins over as a babyface while they also kept Reigns in check.
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