RAW Bytes – dtm666

RAW (June 9th, 2025) – Nobody Can Handle The Truth

It’s the RAW after Money In The Bank, where a couple people won briefcases that they’ll have to carry around for months on end until their eventual scripted cash-in takes place where they will win whatever title they will challenge in cheap fashion… oh and R-Truth was hired back after his contract ran out earlier in the month and fans protested because WWE wouldn’t re-sign him.

Well, they did re-sign him. And the first thing they did was have him cut a promo where he adopted a more serious demeanor and is now going by his real name. Yes, it took a contract expiration and a fan riot for WWE to free Ron Killings from this one-note joke character that he’s been playing for years and give him one last hurrah as the serious competitor that you only really saw ages ago when he was in TNA or even early on in his last WWE stint. Where they go from here is anyone’s guess, but whatever happens from hereon out, I hope it was worth it.

In other news, GUNTHER made Jey Uso pass out to win back his World title and end this YEET experiment that has been going nowhere. I’d imagine they need GUNTHER to hold a title so that they can fast track that rumored Goldberg match, but in any event, Jey Uso as the World Champion was worth a shot, but clearly not something that had anyone excited. Oh well.

Also, Nikki Bella made her return, teased future involvement, and got into a spat with Liv Morgan, who is supposed to be the heel in this program, but actually got more cheers than Nikki. That can’t be a good sign… also, the backstage bit where Nikki and IYO SKY is exchanging pleasantries and IYO claiming that Nikki “paved the way for the rest of us” felt so dirty and so wrong. I’m not going to deny Nikki was a major player back in the day, but let’s be real; the Bellas on top was not exactly a high point in the women’s division and it took the influx of NXT talent to really give the WWE women some actual worth. There is a reason why a lot of those Diva segments back in the day were called “designated piss breaks.”

Also, we have tournament matches for the King and Queen of the Ring titles, whose finals will be held at the next WWE Blood Money show at Saudi Arabia. And speaking of which, CM Punk – who once told some WWE Superstar to go suck on a blood money soaked dick in Saudi Arabia – will be challenging John Cena for the title at said Blood Money event. What a world we live in.

And that’s about it, really. To tell the truth – no pun intended – I didn’t watch the show… I’m only going by bits and pieces I’ve seen online as well as some recaps here and there. Haven’t renewed my Netflix subscription because I’m presently in the middle of a Paramount run, which may or may not continue if this Strange New Worlds thing ends up being worth a follow for the next couple months.

A friend did offer a recording of this Friday’s Smackdown show if I wanted to watch. Apparently, the big John Cena vs. Ron Killings rematch is taking place there. Should be fun to do a musings on… maybe give Impact a bit of a spotlight in a couple weeks.

RAW After Mania (April 21st, 2025) – Well, It’s A Raw After Mania Alright…

Well, some twelve hours after the Ramblemania post went up, you’re getting the RAW After Mania musings, because that’s also a thing we do around here. Also, this is Night Four of the Buy One Get One Free All You Can Eat Extravaganza that’s set to conclude tomorrow with NXT, which I will not be watching.

Anyway, I’ll save the proper show musings for after the break to avoid spoiling days-old programming for those who haven’t seen it yet. Though, for what it’s worth, just watch Night 2 and wait until they upload the main event of Night 1 to Youtube.

Continue reading “RAW After Mania (April 21st, 2025) – Well, It’s A Raw After Mania Alright…”

RAW (January 13th, 2025) – I Only Stayed For Penta

So last night was the WWE RAW debut of Penta (formerly Pentagon Jr. and Penta El Cero Miedo of TNA and AEW fame), where he defeated Chad Gable in a nice little showcase for the new signee and not much more than that. The idea of Michael Cole opening mentioning TNA and Lucha Underground by name will always be weird to me. For what it was – show off the new guy and prop him up a bit – I thought it was fine and I wish Penta nothing but the best in his new home. (Not sold on him cutting a promo afterwards, but his English was fine and his thanking his family and fans for the journey was nice and wholesome.)

Other than that, I didn’t see much of the show, but apparently, we have a new IC Women’s champion in Lyra Valkyria, Damien Priest beat up Finn Balor in a main event street fight, more names were announced for the Rumble, and Jey Uso is challenging GUNTHER for the World title at Saturday Night’s Main Event. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Jey Uso before his eventual mauling at the hands of the Ring General.

That’s all I have to say on that. Next Wednesday, PPV Musings will be making a return and will cover the only Royal Rumble event not to get the Royal Ramble treatment. I’ll go ahead and spoil it for you…

Should be a fun one to revisit, kids.

Later.

RAW (January 6th, 2025) – Playing The Role Of Vince McMahon… NETFLIX!

It’s the first RAW on Netflix… a new era in WWE programming.

And it was… a show…

Not sure what you were expecting me to say. Not sure what you were expecting out of this show. It was a big show, sure… but it wasn’t FUCKING BIG SHOW or anything like that. He’s signed with AEW at the moment.

Anyway, some notes on this three-hour show… because RAW is back to three hours again… so one less show for me to watch per week.

Continue reading “RAW (January 6th, 2025) – Playing The Role Of Vince McMahon… NETFLIX!”

RAW (Sept. 9th, 2024) – A Test Run Of Sorts

So, truth be told, I didn’t watch the entirety of RAW – mostly bits and pieces here and there – but there were a couple notes from the show that I wanted to touch upon quickly.

Perhaps the most significant of all is the news that starting in October, which will begin the final stretch of RAW episodes on USA Network before the move to Netflix, will see RAW’s run time be reduced from the daunting three-hour marathons to the usual two hour format similar to Smackdown and NXT. Some people see this as a bad thing – one less hour equals less ads, although considering this is a last minute short-term deal, I don’t think anyone really minded that point – while others see this as a good thing in that more people will be more likely to watch the show and stick with it throughout.

Count me in the latter category. I have seen far more episodes of 2-hour RAWs that I have 3 hour RAWs and even during the 3-hour sessions, I’m skipping through most of it. With two hours, it makes for a more quick paced show and there’s less padding overall. While I’m sure some people are upset by this news, trust me. This is going to be a good move going forward and might be a sampler of things to come when the Netflix era rolls around.

(Scratch that. Word has it RAW will return to three hours when it hits Netflix. So much for that.)

As far as actual happenings on the show? Bret Hart and Gunther’s interaction was fun for a bit, though I’d imagine not as fun as Bret and HHH hugging it out, where I’d imagine Bret told HHH that he’s still a 4/10 wrestler. Jey Uso looks to challenge Bron Breakker for the IC title and fuck knows if they ever pull some kind of trigger on the guy, who was a genuinely hot act last year and now has sort of become just another guy… letting hot guys become just another guy is the other place’s schtick, Hunter. Also, Nattie being a surprise partner in a multi-woman match at a show taking place in Calgary………………………………… Alberta, Canada is no surprise at all. And of course, there was the Wyatt Sicks/American Made street fight that opened up the show, which was a fun little match.

Regarding the Wyatt Sicks, I am largely ambivalent… which means I don’t particularly care for it, but don’t entirely hate it either. Believe it or not, that’s actually a good thing and it tells me that they haven’t completely screwed any pooch with this one. There’s still time, though.

Regarding new announcer Joe Tessitore? I’ll need a few more listens to gauge a proper opinion on the dude, but so far, I’m liking what I hear. Guy’s got a good voice, seems well into the action, and doesn’t come across as a total goof who hasn’t a clue what he’s talking about. WWE has tried other real sportscasters for the RAW role and they never quite worked out, but they got something with this Tessitore guy. He just needs a couple weeks to find a footing (and maybe a witty catchphrase or two), but he’s off to a good start.

That’s about it.

Later.

RAW (April 15th, 2024) – Damned That Shorty G!

We had a RAW show from Montreal, which was a totally nothing happening show that was headlined by a pretty awesome Sami Zayn vs. Shorty G match, followed by a dispicable act on the part of that sore loser, Shorty G. You sorry bastard couldn’t get the job done beating GUNTHER and now you couldn’t even beat the guy who beat GUNTHER and on top of that, he’s the same guy you HELPED TRAINED to beat GUNTHER and you still couldn’t beat him. And now I’m supposed to feel sorry for you and say that you deserve it? Fuck off, man. You suck. You’re a loser. You don’t deserve shit!

Continue reading “RAW (April 15th, 2024) – Damned That Shorty G!”

RAW After Mania (April 8th, 2024) – Starting A New Story/Era/Whatever

One night after AEW aired its All In footage for people who still give a shit about that mess, I decide to write some musings on the RAW After Wrestlemania that took place this past Monday since that’s kind of a tradition ’round these parts or something. You’ll be pleased to know that I actually sat through all three hours… well, okay, I skipped commercials and some minor bits here and there, but still I saw most of the show. That has to be worth something, right?

Well, not really…

Continue reading “RAW After Mania (April 8th, 2024) – Starting A New Story/Era/Whatever”

RAW (April 3rd, 2023) – Only Doing This Out Of Personal Obligation

So for whatever it’s worth, I’m only watching this RAW show mostly out of personal obligation and not necessarily because I care enough about the product after the bummer ending at Mania 39. And even then, I’m not even bothering to watch the whole fucking show because, again, three hours of a nothing show is not something I have the patience to put up with. I had originally intended to do this in a five-point format because, you know, the RAW After Mania is usually when you have some great stuff.

As I blow through this show, I quickly realize that there is nothing to do this show that makes me hopeful for the future. It opens with Triple H alluding to the sale news and assuring fans that the WWE they loved was never going away. Unfortunately, then came the Cody/Roman interaction, which saw Cody cut the worst kind of promo in his situation, declaring Roman the better man, saying he almost had him beat, and then demanding a rematch… to which Roman said no. Cody then offered a tag match with himself and a partner vs. Roman and Solo. Heyman agreed on condition that the partner competed at Mania and can no longer challenge for the title.

Out come Brock Lesnar and everyone loses their collective shits. What a match to give the fans after a disappointing outcome to last night’s main event. I watch that angle play and the first thought that comes to mind is “Watch Brock Lesnar turn on Cody and beat this shit out of him while Roman walks away.”

Sure enough, Brock Lesnar turned on Cody Rhodes and beat the shit out of him while Roman walked away, presumably onto another long hiatus until he’s needed at the Saudi show. So not only has Cody pulled a Luger at Mania, but he doubles down by pulling a Sting turning his back on Lesnar’s Ric Flair. On top of that, Brock’s back to being a heel, which means eleventy-billion suplexes to put everyone into a collective coma before Cody mounts his little comeback and eventually loses again.

Welcome back, Cody. Hope you enjoy the rest of your stay chasing the 24/7 title when that gets brought back from the dead.

As far as the rest of the show, nothing else of note happened. Matt Riddle made his long awaited return and punched out Miz; sucks to be that guy this weekend. Seth Rollins came out and had people sing his crappy song. And the new tag team champs? They made short work of the Street Profits. So much for the WWE that I loved which produced actual compelling programming that made me want to watch more; now it’s the old WWE with hours of meandering content and horrible shit that goes nowhere.

And people wonder why I don’t watch the weekly shows anymore.

The Mania thoughts will pop up on Friday.

RAW (Nov. 21st, 2022) – Michin. It’s Bitchin.

So apparently, they resigned Mia Yim a week or so ago and then changed her name to Michin, which is apparently Korean for “crazy.” The only good thing about this name is the header I used for this RAW Bytes post. Other than that, I’ve heard worse.

For some reason, I watched a bit of RAW. Opened with Kevin Owens cutting a promo on Roman Reigns, reminding us that he used to challenge for the title and if not for the Bloodline, this history making title run would’ve ended sooner. Then the Bruting Brawls shows up and talks for a bit, then the Judgment Day geeks showed up and weesa haz a match.

So in the six-man tag match thing, Sheamus pinned Dom Mysterio and the place popped, because nobody likes Dom for leaching off the Mysterio name. After all, we all know he’s Eddie’s kid. This is followed by Johnny Gargano against Miz, except not really because Miz hurt his arm and so he sends the big dude, Omos, to replace him. Gargano gets his ass kicked faster than Kevin Nash can scarf down a piece of ravioli.

And then giggling idiot Seth Rollins showed up on my TV and I turn the show off.

I didn’t even get to see Michin. Not so bitchin.

RAW (July 26th, 2022) – A New Era (Allegedly) Begins

For whatever reason, I felt compelled to waste three hours of my life watching last Monday’s edition of RAW, which is significant due to being the first RAW following the retirement/resignation of Vince McMahon and the ascension of Paul “Triple H” Levesque as the new head of WWE Creative. Also, the show was taking place in MSG, so it had to be special right?

First segment that opens in Miz and the Youtube guy brawling… that’s followed by a CGI Roman Reigns figure that looks like ass. Fortunately, we’ve got a long Roman Reigns promo that saw Paul Heyman do most of the talking, who is interrupted by that Theory kid, who is taunted by Roman because “Daddy’s not here anymore.” This leads to Theory in a match against Drew McIntyre, who gets ambushed by Sheamus and friends, which prompts Bobby Lashley to come out and turn this into a TAG TEAM MATCH, PLAYA! And then I zoned out.

The rest of the show was just stuff that happened. Rey Mysterio celebrated 20 years in WWE by cutting a humble promo, followed by a tag match with him and his son Dominick beating Finn Balor and the Priest guy. This leads to a backstage bit where the Rhea girl pushes the Mysterio girl and I guess theyz haz match?

The more this show went on, the most I zoned out. All throughout the night, the dog is restless and needs to go. So I let her into the yard for a bit and she comes back ten minutes later. Finally, I take her for a long walk and by the time I came back, RAW was over.

I had the show DVR’d, but really, the best thing I could say about this episode of RAW is that it was largely inoffensive and there wasn’t much in the way of stupid shit. It’s still RAW, it’s still three hours, and it’s still a waste of time. Certainly didn’t make me interested in this weekend’s upcoming Summerslam show.

With that said, this show played out as I expected it to: business as usual. I’m sure those who regularly watch the show – my condolences, by the way – will be able to spot for any minor differences that are supposedly there, but those expecting this show to outright change overnight should tempered those expectations. HHH just got the head creative job and as good as his run on NXT has been, you can’t expect those same results from day one. These things take time. Whether people have the patience to sit through it or not is another story.

I can say I watched the first RAW after Vince’s retirement, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I am willing to give the new regime another shot in about a month or so, but for now, I’d say it’s going to be a while before things start to feel different from the same old routine.