**WWE Raw/Smackdown Viewing Thread**

Predictably annoying watching the tribalist narrative shift regarding Penta. Now everyone thinks flippy **** is cool. Just lol.

Immediate Netflix price hike. Put my membership on pause today, which will likely be permanent. Maybe I'll pick one or two months a year to binge. $20 per month for a single streaming service might make some people start regretting cutting the cord. It's starting to get really expensive.

I didn't have Netflix before Raw and I just bought the lowest tier with ads. It's a few 15-second ads during the show. Probably fewer than they have on Peacock during a PLE.

Why did they take the belts away from Cody and Kevin to hang them above the ring in San Antonio if they're having the match in Indianapolis? Are they going to have to climb all the way back to San Antonio to win?

Why hang Kevin's belt at all? They've been trying to recover it from him for a month. Why would he give an illegitimate belt back now?

I know nobody really watches the weekly shows anymore, but I found it funny that you could clearly see Candace LaRay telling Tiffany Stratton to move when Nia Jax was attempting to attack her from behind.

McAfee is so so so bad

Not sure what happened to the show tonight, I could barely pay attention and then Iyo was slapping everyone and then Seth and Punk kicked out of everything.

I don't think I even register what McAfee is saying. He's like part of the furniture.

It's amazing that they've let Roman retain absolutely all of his heel qualities. The only difference has been that he hasn't led gang beatdowns on babyfaces since returning.

I think that’s what I love the most about the post-Vince era

Between Rollins, punk and reigns there is no face and there is no heel

Rollins and punk and rollins and reigns have blood feud worthy hatred, punk is pulling Heyman from Roman

You could argue very easily punk is the natural heel of the 3

It also allows guys like Drew and KO to be more complex heels. There’s legitimate gripe.

I actually felt that Punk has been the least heelish between the three.

I find Smackdown to be inferior to Raw. Not getting the same level of enjoyment out of both shows.

Also, I find the quality of wrestling has gone done since my early days of watching it. Moves look less sharp, people missing them entirely, repetitive moves, all a problem.

Smackdown is written by Road Dogg.

Cena with absolutely nuclear heat and one hell of a heel promo

I am here for this

Seriously this promo was fucking incredible and absolutely sells why cena should spend his final run as the final boss

So so so good

Makes me wonder if it goes well enough that he goes back on his word about this year being his last, and runs it through next WM instead

European crowds are so much better than US crowds, it’s not even funny.

After 3 mins of talking I concluded John Cena has the best mic skills outta all the top guys.

And yeah euro crowds really put boorish American ones to shame.

I love Simplement Deux! but some of the singing goes over the line for me, it's like they're not even paying attention.

So they've set up a pair of all babyface triple threat matches for Mania. Even with Cena and Charlotte turning. I don't know why Io was inserted to the woman's title situation, but expect a Bianca turn at Mania. Maybe its so she can win the title without beating Rhea.

I also can't remember the last triple threat that wasn't for a title.

Scotland booed Bianca and I saw some people saying it was racist.

I dunno.

I wish the top talent appeared more. What happened to all the big names wrestling on the tv shows?

Iyo won the belt. It's Rhea inserting herself [emoji56]

Rhea is a heel. She never turned. Dom turned on her. She never changed. She works better as a heel.

Charlotte didn't turn either, the people chose Tiffy Time.

Iyo is spectacular, she makes the match better. Usually adding more people makes a match worse. Not here.

Scotland loved Iyo.

Punk wrestled Seth in a cage last week in the best tv match in five years.

Rhea may insert herself into anything she wishes.

Although I didn't appreciate her yeeting a few months back. It was unbecoming.

Bianca was probably booed because her character has become stale. She also does something that peeves me in the ring and once you see it, you can never unsee it. During matches, she frequently waves her opponent to come on and get to the next spot as if she's impatient.

Maybe Bayley turns with Bianca and they form a new heal stable with Naomi. Unfortunately, Bayley's babyface run over the last year has been a big fail.

They teach that move at the PC, she does it the most but it's not just her. I assume it's because she's ready for the next spot and you want to do anything but just stand there.

My pet peeve is people tensing up and preparing to take a mild chair shot, then freezing motionless until it hits. Do anything but just stand there imo.

Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes vs Ted DiBiase Jr. at WM26 IIRC