Blog Archives
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 8/3/15: Champions Survive
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 8/3/15)
Champions Survive
– As always with WWE and paying respects to passing legends, the on-screen tribute to Rowdy Roddy Piper was classy, with all the talent on stage wearing “Hot Rod!” shirts, his music playing out the scene, followed by a great video package.
Notes In Observance – WWE Smackdown 7/30/15: 2 Unstable
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 7/30/15)
2 Unstable
– Things started with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins in bragging mode about breaking Cena’s nose injury from the Raw match and why wouldn’t he exploit it? Don’t think anyone complained with Cesaro’s interruption, who showed enough confidence on the mic in that snarky way, but still came off likable. It turned into an actual match, which was surprising since Rollins didn’t attempt to run. Was a good segue for Kevin Owens to come down and sit on commentary, which is always a treat. The match had some decent action but Owens interfering by attacking Cesaro was inevitable, as he pretty much gave it away on commentary, again hilariously picking on the team for not plugging WWE.com interviews. Rollins and Owens double-teaming Cesaro afterwards was a good lead-in to what turned out to be the main event.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 7/27/15: A Night Of Firsts
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 7/27/15)
A Night Of Firsts
– SummerSlam’s still a good month or so away and the buzz is already amidst thanks to last week’s all-out locker-room brawl between Brock Lesnar and Undertaker, which received more flashback video packages (two on this show particularly and from last week’s Smackdown) which was good. It’s ironic that this was branded as a “night of firsts” at the beginning since it speaks to how routine the show has felt in recent weeks, despite one big angle coming out of the shows, like the “Diva Revolution” or the brawl.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 7/20/15: Brawl’s Well That Ends Well
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 7/20/15)
Brawl’s Well That Ends Well
– The opening video highlighted (would you guess) Brock Lesnar’s 13 suplexes on WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins in under 5 minutes and how Undertaker stole the moment and low-blowed the challenger upon his arrival, complete with angry faces. Taker was portrayed with a more antagonistic edge in the video, which fed right into the opening segment. There was a fair amount of Taker-Lesnar hype and that was more than fine.
WWE Battleground 2015 Reaction
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
* Graphic by Emmanuel Gonzalez *
Needless to say, the show’s closing moments solidified a strong second half that promised a future worth anticipating, in one aspect, anyway.
In many ways, Battleground fulfilled its namesake as a platform for some great slobberknockers, if you look at matches like Randy Orton-Sheamus, Roman Reigns-Bray Wyatt or John Cena-Kevin Owens.
Within the show were some interesting albeit unorthodox creative decisions, but perhaps that’ll be rectified in the long run. We’ll get into all of it below.
WWE Battleground 2015 Preview/Predictions
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
* Graphic by Emmanuel Gonzalez *
If you’ve been following WWE since WrestleMania, one moment plays in the head of many: the one defining moment of the year thus far.
In the middle of the WrestleMania main event between defending Champion Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins’ music hit and he hustled his way to become the new Champion via the Money In The Bank briefcase, not even pinning Lesnar to win the Championship.
The night after on Raw saw a turn of Lesnar/Paul Heyman to babyface and chaos ensued when he didn’t get the rematch owed to him, causing a storyline suspension.
While Lesnar has been absent, the key has been building Rollins as a credible heel WWE Champion. While they have mostly succeeded on that front with him beating guys like Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose multiple times, it’s been all about waiting for Lesnar’s comeback where the “right thing” would be to see Lesnar win it back.
This would’ve been a perfect and worthy SummerSlam main event, but WWE jumped the gun about a month early. We’d complain about the buildup, but there’s nothing bad about it, in how Lesnar has systematically taken out all of Rollins’ allies he worked hard to get back.
Battleground should be where we see Lesnar gain the ultimate revenge. The question is will he or won’t he.
The rest of the card is passable and we’ll run through everything below.
Notes In Observance – WWE Smackdown 7/16/15: No More Mind Games
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 7/16/15)
No More Mind Games
– Roman Reigns cut a promo that he wasn’t deterred by Bray Wyatt and hyped the main event. Wyatt’s promo was pretty decent as he put Reigns over and mentioned his desire to beat him at Battleground. The back and forth was okay for what it was, though Wyatt got the better of things. We knew Wyatt can talk the talk, but it remains to be seen if he can walk the walk. Our hopes aren’t high.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 7/13/15: The Diva-lution Begins
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 7/13/15)
The Diva-lution Begins
– The opening video highlighted Brock Lesnar as the utter beast he is, focusing on his disassembly of the Cadillac CTS. The build for the Lesnar-WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins rematch has been excellent from week to week, as the momentum constantly shifts between the two. It’s been billed mainly as a chance to see Lesnar deliver another dominant ass-kicking against the cowardly heel Champion, but then there are moments shown where Rollins goes above and beyond to actually appear to be a threat.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 7/6/15: Cadillac Calamity
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 7/6/15)
Cadillac Calamity
– The opening video highlighted WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins expressing his appreciation for his Authority mates by “buying” their loyalty last week, which was a fair lead-in to what would unravel later in the night, with a big focus on that nice little Cadillac.
Notes In Observance – WWE Smackdown 7/2/15: Revenge Is Best Served With A Kendo Stick
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 7/2/15)
Revenge Is Best Served With A Kendo Stick
– The opening video highlighted WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins “buying” his loyalty (love the dubbed in “friend” music) and that led to the main event where The “United” Authority and Bray Wyatt beat down Roman Reigns.
Pro Wrestling Opinion 