Tech Talk Thursday: What happened to RAW?

In the video below, I along with Chill B and our friend Teflon Viper were excited for Monday Night Raw.  Being wrestling fans since the early 80's we decided to attend Raw as we have attended other shows and Chill B, Humble Diva, and Barz have even attended Wrestlemania 27 (Well not the best of the Wrestlemanias, but that's another story)

As I said we were ready for a good time, but as the last few years, and the ratings, have proved Monday Night Raw has been on a steady decline and this show was no exception.

I admit, I started watching during church service in the back room with my cousins when Hulkamania was running wild, but I truly got to watch and keep up with it all during the famed attitude era.  The day I came home from school and saw that cable line going to our house, I got to join others in flipping back and forth between Raw and Nitro during the Monday Night Wars.  Now this was a great time to be a fan with wrestlers like The Rock, Stone Cold, The Undertaker, DX, the APA just to name a few.  Nothing last forever and wrestlers get older...retire, but that is where new guys should be groomed to fill those shoes.  Something where WWE has failed.  Is it because they went PG?  No, you can still tell great stories in a PG setting.  The attitude era as great as it was also had its flaws.

It seems now that the writing and storytelling has taken a turn for the worse.  The Raw that we attended was suppose to be be the go home show for Extreme Rules this Sunday.  The go home show is supposed to get you hyped and ready for it and back before the WWE Network it served to get those who were on the fence to buy the Pay per View.  I will tell you this, this show failed to that.  I miss the days where watching Monday Night Raw was a priority but now I have it own as background noise.  Three hours is too long, especially when you fill it with crap story lines and segments.... Segments like the one we saw live Monday with Alexa Bliss.

This was by far the worst part of my experience.  This Sunday Alexa and Bayley face each other for the Women's title in a Kendo Stick on a Pole match. So, what does WWE decide to do to hype us for this match?  Oh, they have Alexa come out with Bayley this is your life segment... Now back in the day this worked when Mick Foley did it for the Rock, but this here was horrendous.  It was long, boring, and a waste of time.  Alexa just went on and on about how lame Bayley is and had some of her personal belongings on a table in the ring.... How did she get these?  Did she go to Bayley's house and steal them?  Should she not be in jail right now?  Yes, because this segment was a crime against humanity.   Alexa had Bayley's teacher, child hood friend, and ex boyfriend in the ring.  All of them telling stories of how Bayley was too nice, her dad was always there... in class and even on dates...  I guess this was suppose to be funny... In the end the child hood friend and ex boyfriend started to make out in the ring... (Yea, this was worth my ticket price).  The segment was so bad we chanted "delete delete delete" and "boring".  (Teflon Viper takes credit for starting the boring chant)  With all this, Bayley then decides to come out.  The crowd cheered, more so that it meant the end to this segment.  They then fought, a fight we could not see because it was behind the table... this brought on chants of "move the table".  In the end Alexa had a Kendo Stick under the table and she used it to again best Bayley.

Was the almost four hour show all bad?  No, the main event with Roman and Seth was a a good match.  Like every other city, poor Roman was booed.  Personally I cheered him, because he does not deserve the boos.  He is only getting booed because he is Vince McMahon's chosen one to replace John Cena.  Vince created this monster by the awful promos he wrote... One having Roman saying Sylvester the cat's famous Suffering Succotash line, or having Roman eliminate fan favorite Daniel Bryant early in the Royal Rumble, and some may argue with the latest in having Roman be the second man to beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania and retire him...  It may be too late now, but Roman should have went heal when the boos started and by now Vince could have the top face Roman that he wants, but nooooooo.  Now the funny thing is when the camera's went off and Roman posed after his win, the crowd cheered him.  So, maybe Roman will be seen as a true face one day... or it may take a Shield Reunion to do it...

Along with the main event I enjoyed the fatal three way with Fin Baylor, Samoa Joe, and Bray Wyatt (another character the writers have messed up on) and also seeing the Hardy's and Dean Ambrose take on the Miz, Cesaro and Shemus in the opening.  Even so, WWE, ya got to do better.  There is no excuse for the lack of storytelling and waste of talent that has been happening for the last few years.  I miss the days having a house full on Sundays because people couldn't wait to see the ppv.  I mean Smackdown is better being two hours and seems to be able to cope even when Raw thinks it can be better by taking the stars they made or NXT which is a great show, but now I fear the day an NXT star is called up because Raw will chew them up and spit them out!

I hope to discuss this further with the others of CNT Nation to get their thoughts on Raw and the WWE as of late in a Podcast or YouTube segment, because something has got to give...  Even with no direct competition there are still alternatives like Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network Wednesdays at 9 p.m. or the always reliable Ring of Honor.  And no i will not recommend TNA or as they call themselves now Impact because they are the reason the Hardy's can't go completely broken and there product is still bad, far worse than Raw....

Anyway, Let's Make Raw Great Again.

Tech's Day 13 in Black History: Naomi the new WWE Smack Down women's Champion

Congratulation to Naomi on winning the WWE Smackdown women's championship!

Naomi born Trinity McCray now Trinity Fatu (married to Johnathan Fatu aka Jimmy Uso of the twin tag team the uso) is not only a wwe wrestler, but she is also an actress, model, dance and singer!  She was even a dancer for the NBA's Orlando Magic.  

In 2009, Naomi started of in then WWE's developmental league FCW where she won the inaugural FCW Divas Championship.  The then went on to appear in the all female third season of NXT where she came in second to Kelly Kelly; yea she should have won, but you know WWE and Vince's love of blondes.... Anyway as with most of these context the runner ups usually find more success and Naomi made her main roster debut in 2012 as one half of the dancing group The Funkadactyls.  The group not only dance but also wrestled, but more success would come when in 2015 she teamed with her cousin in law Tamina Snuka and then newcomer Sasha Banks.

The Rear End :)

The last couple of years it seemed that Naomi has been overlooked with the new comers from NXT, Sasha and Ric Flairs daughter Charlotte both getting and feuding over the title before Naomi.  She did have a brief hiatus due to an injury and shooting a WWE film, but with her in ring work, her charisma, her feel the glow entrance, Naomi was well deserving of a push and title run.  Many may argue that she is in fact the most athletic on the roster. With her signature move the Rear End, no one should get up from; if you catch my drift 😍 Even another new comer from NXT, Alexa Bliss won the belt from another new comer Becky Lynch and Naomi finally got her chance, even pinning Alexa three times in non title or tag matches and at the Elimination PPV Naomi defeated her again winning the belt.  I was happy and surprised, because WWE logic says if the champ gets beat that many times before defending belt they are going to win.  

With that you can say that Naomi is the first African American Smackdown WWE Women's champion and the third woman to hold the title.  And pending no other title defenses she will get to defend the belt at Wrestlemania in her hometown of Orlando, Florida.  You can also see Naomi on the reality show Total Divas on E! and she will be in The Marine 5:  Battleground

Naomi's WWE.com BIO

As the second highest cause of whiplash behind car accidents, Naomi first turned heads as a dancer for the NBA's Orlando Magic and hip-hop stars like Flo Rida. These talents would take her around the world as Naomi performed everywhere from North Korea to Indonesia.
Despite all that success, Naomi's dance steps couldn’t satisfy her competitive spirit, which is how she found herself as a contestant on WWE NXT. Despite being eliminated in the final week of her season, Naomi soon launched into orbit around Planet Funk.
Accompanying Brodus Clay to the ring while grooving with fellow Diva Cameron, the athletic beauty used the canvas as her own personal dance floor. After the disintegration of the tag team of Clay and "Sweet T," or Tons of Funk, The Funkadactyls even landed on Total Divas, a reality show on E!.
Reality show bonafides aside, Naomi has had a series of remarkable runs as both fan-favorite and corner-cutting villain, doggedly pursuing the Divas Championship for the better part of a year and cementing her status as a ring general by heading up the attitude-filled Team B.A.D. of Tamina and Sasha Banks during the Divas Revolution.
But it wasn't until Naomi reinvented herself to compete on the SmackDown LIVE brand that she came face-to-face with her destiny. For it was there that she truly began to feel the Glow and where she stepped into the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to capture her first SmackDown Women’s Championship from Alexa Bliss!