"Gratitude": Monday Night RAW (2/8/16)

Due to medical reasons, effective immediately, I am announcing my retirement. Tonight on Raw, I'll have a chance to elaborate. #gratitude

— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) February 8, 2016

This is the tweet that shocked the wrestling world this morning. Daniel Bryan, who vacated his IC title 9 months ago due to medical reasons, has announced his retirement. For a while, Vince and I thought this has to be a work. Maybe he'll pull a Mark Henry, who announced that he was retiring and later fooled everybody (this is where the infamous "Y'ALL A BUNCH OF PUPPETS!" came from). Maybe he might come back as a heel, to help create excitement on the Road to Wrestlemania. The point is, like everyone else, we thought that Bryan will finally return to WWE. We just didn't expect him to return in this manner.
It's not a work. It's not an angle. It's real. And that is the hardest part of Bryan's announcement to accept. However, Bryan did something more than just say goodbye; he chose his home state to announce his retirement, he thanked the people in the back as well as Kane and William Regal for being his mentors, he cheesily joked about Brie saying "YES! YES! YES! every night (prompting a "That's what she said!" chant), and most importantly, he thanked the fans for behind him the whole time.

Not since Edge's retirement speech in 2011 had the WWE Universe seen a young wrestler who was forced to retire due to medical reasons. In the long run, this was the right call for him to make. Bryan admitted that he had sustained many concussions over the course of his career. If anything, this is bringing to light of WWE's priority in putting their employees health above anything else. All of the injuries that have put a lot of current superstars out - Rollins, Orton, Cena, Cesaro, to name a few - has been devastating and difficult for booking their shows and PPVs but it's better that they take time off to recover rather than wrestle through the injuries and ignore their doctors (which is sadly what Bryan also did, as mentioned in his book). Bryan broke the mold for professional wrestling, is highly respected across other wrestling promotions, and has accomplished so much in WWE before even turning 35. There won't be another wrestler like him.
Aside from the somber tone, Monday Night RAW saw a few major developments leading to Fastlane:

• Ambrose, Reigns, and Lesnar's contract signing for the main event devolved into chaos as Ambrose repeatedly taunting Lesnar, begging for more F5s, and low-blowing him. This is the second week where the focus is on Ambrose and Lesnar while Reigns is just being the silent third wheel.
• The Divas storyline is back on track with showcasing more of Charlotte, Becky, and Sasha. Becky and Sasha have reluctantly teamed up to go against "Naomina."
• The Dudleyz have turned heel and are targeting the Usos. Vince and I both cheered for this
• There's probably going to be a Kevin Owens vs Ziggler match for Fastlane
• That goes double for AJ Styles vs Jericho. I just wish they would make AJ talk!

With over a week left, Fastlane is the only PPV left to set up storylines and matches leading to Wrestlemania. It feels like some rewriting is being done at the last minute - notably with Ambrose - so here's hoping that whatever plans they have in mind will not get sidetracked with another injury moving forward.

THANK YOU DANIEL BRYAN

"SEA! HAWKS!": Monday Night RAW (8/11/15)

It's 2 weeks til the Summerslam and a bunch of matches were added to the card, now justifying WWE extending the PPV to 4 hours. Last night's RAW was thoroughly enjoyable, and it also marked the return of Daniel Bryan in his home state of Washington.

Seth Rollins opened up RAW with a really silly segment where he was talking to a picture of John Cena with his broken nose via titantron with Rollins' mouth and terrible accent. Cena has still not officially accepted Rollins' challenge. Cesaro (who was so happy to see more Cesaro Section signs), Kevin Owens (who called out "the idiot on the internet" for printing said signs for the sheeps), and Randy Orton (who sheeply asked if Owens gained weight) came out, much to Rollins' dismay as he confirmed that he was not going to do the weekly open challenge. HHH came out and created a triple threat match amongst the 3 challengers and the winner will fight Rollins for the title as tonight's main event.

Team Bella defeated Team B.A.D. while Submission Sorority PCB was on commentary. While all 3 Diva groups went into the ring and started wailing on each other, this moment stood out at the end; look at the stare down between the 2 former champs! Sadly, the Divas Revolution will remain on its holding pattern for another month. They were added to Summerslam as a Three Team Elimination match.

The New Day fought (and defeated) Los Matadores. These guys have been on FIRE these last few weeks. Their matches have been so entertaining to watch, and regardless of whether they win or lose, they still win the crowd over every single time. They were added to Summerslam as a Fatal 4-Way Match against Los Matadores (ugh), Lucha Dragons (yay), and Tag Team Champions Prime Time Players. When The New Day first won, it was a complete surprise. Now I want them to be the 2-Time Tag Team Champions.

The Triple Threat match with Orton, Owens, and Cesaro was incredible. It's so damn impressive to see Owens keep up with Cesaro and Owens. Orton and Cesaro teamed up to do a double suplex on Owens off the turnbuckle. And Orton did a double rope DDT on Owens and Cesaro. I was not happy to see Cesaro getting the pin from Orton, which meant it was another match for the 13-time former champ against Rollins again. Come on, Cesaro or Owens would've been great.

There was a Miz TV segment with Daniel Bryan, who was there to plug his book. Miz once again complained that he should be the IC champ and Big Show came out. And then... The Ryback came out! He looks well! He didn't do his signature Shell Shock but he did a good spear on Miz and on Big Show. Bryan has been really supportive of The Ryback, so it was nice to see his continued endorsement.

Next up was Ambrose vs Harper with Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt, respectively on their side outside the ring. Harper and Ambrose put on a decent match (though Vince pointed out that they were on auto-pilot) but in the end, Ambrose lost (UGH AS USUAL) to Harper. This whole "Family vs Family" feud, especially for Ambreigns, is once again bringing up rumors that one of them will turn heel, or worse, join the Wyatt Family. Their bromance over the last few months has been consistently endearing, and it's going to suck when it happens. Wonder how that will affect Ambrose's merchandise on the WWEShop.

There was a match with Rusev defeated Mark Henry while Lana was on commentary. The match was a no decision when Lana intervened. Something remarkable happened here; Rusev ordered Summer to "CRUSH" Lana and she performed Rusev's Accolade on her! And then the Bulgarian flag came down with Rusev's face on it and it was fucking glorious. I actually liking this love triangle better without Ziggler's involvement.

Neville defeated King Barrett but was jumped but was jumped by Stardust in the ring. Stardust notices "Arrow" actor Stephen Amell in the front row and smacks him before getting back in the ring. Amell jumps over the barricade and SPEARS Stardust in the middle of the ring! The crowd pop here was great! Backstage, he demanded HHH to put him and Neville in a match against Stardust and King Barrett for Summerslam. This is the match I'm looking forward to the most. It was an unusual concept to begin with but I'm glad WWE allowed this story line to develop. I read that Stardust is doing this match in tribute to his father, Dusty Rhodes, so that he can finish what he started.

The main event match with Rollins and Orton was also decent but it was looking like it was falling apart towards the end. To be honest, I wasn't really watching the match because it would seem obvious that Rollins would retain. Sheamus interfered and tried to cash in his MITB briefcase after throwing Orton over the barricade. And then this happened:

Sheamus and John Cone (Office Rep! Dammit, I miss the JBL & Renee show) were clearly stalling for a few seconds before Orton came back into the ring and RKO'd Sheamus. This was predictably disappointing. Majot title changes only seem to happen in PPV events. I get that they want to make the title prestigious and the title change significant but a little unpredictability goes a long way. This is clearly hinting that Sheamus is going to cash in again at Summerslam but for which title? The World Heavyweight Championship or the US Championship?

Next week is the Go Home show with Lesnar and Undertaker returning to Raw for one last time before Summerslam.

Why I like pro wrestling

So... as of late, I obviously become a very, very, very big fan of wrestling. For my sake, I'm just going to talk about how this came to be; how I went from being a casual watcher to a full fledged wrestling fan.

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A decade ago (dear god, a DECADE ago), WWE Raw and Smackdown were just shows that I watched along with Vince (who was quite hesitant to admit to me that he was a wrestling fan when we started going out). He described it as a live action anime. He would give me a brief run down on who the wrestlers were, what feud they were in, and what storylines that's ongoing or what they're involved in. He and his friend, Dan, would always talk about old matches and make wrestling references that I could never follow. I would passively watched the episodes and not give it another thought after it was over because there wasn't a wrestler that stood out to me. Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin were household names but I didn't know their history and I felt I didn't have the time or patience to get to know any of the new wrestlers I was seeing. That is until I saw one wrestler; Batista.

Batista looked so different to me. He was this hulking and intimidating looking character and yet, everyone was rooting for him. The fact that he was half-Filipino somehow resonated with me since I perceived WWE wrestlers to be dominantly white or black. I didn't become a wrestling fan that instant but it made me think that maybe I should try to give wrestling a chance.

Flash forward a few years, I was watching Raw and Smackdown a bit more frequently. I was also watching ECW, which was a graphic alternative that I grew to enjoy and that I couldn't believe would be on television. The wrestlers from ECW that stood out to me at the time were Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, and Sabu. It was a different aspect of wrestling I liked; where there was very little storytelling and more hardcore looking matches.

After Batista, there wasn't any wrestlers that captivated me. I liked Randy Orton, Jericho, Edge, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy, just to name a few. I rooted for them when they were faces and hated them when they were heels. Eventually, I was back to just passively watching the shows and growing frustrated with the storylines - namely John Cena winning at everything. I didn't have an incentive to keep watching as I used to before and Vince would read off the episode spoilers from wrestling websites. We did buy a few major PPV events to watch and we even attended a few of the Monday Night RAW events that took place at the Thomas & Mack Center, but otherwise, we were back to being casual fans. That is, until CM Punk, came into the picture.

I didn't really pay attention to CM Punk during his ECW days but when he got drafted to RAW, I got interested. Again, he looked so different from the other wrestlers; he had tattoos and piercings, his wrestling style was brutal and technical, and god damn, he was great on the mic. I actually got to like him more when he had to do commentary as he recovered from surgery. I didn't like him when was in Straight Edge Society (I didn't have the patience back then to listen to any heels give long-winded and scathing promos) but I did enjoy him being the leader of The Nexus. And then, the Pipe Bomb of 2011 happened.

Vince and I watched, stunned, as CM Punk broke the fourth wall and talked about leaving WWE for ROH or NJPW once his contract was up. He hated Cena and the Rock for being kiss asses. He hated how WWE was being run by Vince McMahon and his doofus son-in-law. Was it a shoot or work? Wait, I don't know what those terms mean! Was it real or scripted?? We couldn't stop talking about it for days! And you know what sucks? This iconic Monday Night RAW moment happened right here at the Thomas & Mack Center, a live show we decided not to go to and would rather just watch at home.

CM Punk was so enjoyable to watch, especially when he became a Paul Heyman guy. His promos were visceral and it blurred the lines between being scripted and being his honest opinion. He made outrageous demands, like bringing back WWE ice cream bars, and declared himself the best in the world. And yet, despite this attitude, Punk would never shy away from giving other guys the spotlight, especially former rival, Daniel Bryan.

Daniel Bryan was part of The Nexus, who got fired for choking Justin Roberts, and then surprisingly rehired. He was The Miz's Rookie, AJ Lee's dickish boyfriend, and one half of Team Hell No with the demon Kane. Bryan looked like an everyman; he wasn't tall or musclebound like the top wrestlers but what he lacked, he made up for it with his technical wrestling skills. He was great to watch because with other wrestlers, you see them doing the same limited move sets (like John Cena's infamous 5 Moves of Doom) but with Bryan, you get an engaging and different match each time.

Bryan took part in the most organic storytelling we've ever seen in WWE; the Authority was keeping Bryan down because they didn't see him as the face of WWE. Also, this was around the time that CM Punk quit WWE and Batista returning at the absolute worst time for a title match. Us fans were not having it. We wanted Bryan to overcome those obstacles and to be more than just the "B+ Player" that the Authority labeled him as. When he won the World Heavyweight Champsionship at Wrestlemania XXX, we all cheered for him. What made the win more satisfying for Bryan was that he turned around the "You Deserve It" chants from the and said that you - the fans - deserved it. But that high would not last long due to a personal tragedy in Bryan's life and a major injury that would put him out for a few months. He would later return and win the IC title belt from Wrestlemania Play Button (31), making him a Grand Slam champion, and relinquish his title due to another major injury.

The 3 wrestlers that got me invested in wrestling over the years have moved on. Batista is now acting in major Hollywood movies. CM Punk is training to be an MMA Fighter and writing for Marvel comics. And Daniel Bryan, despite not knowing how long he'll take to recover and wrestle again, continues to be a presence in WWE, this time as a judge on Tough Enough. So, who's left for me to follow on RAW? That spot would go to a former Shield member. Not Roman Reigns. Not Seth Rollins. It would be Dean Ambrose.

When The Shield first made their debut, I didn't know what how to react to them. They were a mysterious 3-man team that was against "injustice" but wrecked havoc. Reigns was the silent powerhouse, Rollins was the high flying "architect", and Ambrose was the mouthpiece. When he spoke, he sounded eerily calm, sinister, and villainous. However, he can also smile and have fun amidst the chaos. That's probably what I found the most fascinating about him; he's an unhinged and unpredictable character and he enjoys what he does.

After The Shield disbanded, Ambrose was in a long-running feud with the traitorous Rollins for months, while Reigns was out of the picture due to recovering from surgery. When Reigns returned, he was pushed very quickly to the top as he won the Royal Rumble and main evented Wrestlemania Play Button (31) in a World Heavyweight Championship match against Brock Lesnar (a match that should've been against the ultimate underdog, Daniel Bryan). Rollins, the Authority's golden boy, cashed in his MITB contract to win said title and defeat Reigns and Lesnar single-handedly. What about Ambrose? After his feud fizzled with Rollins, Ambrose was in midcard territory for several months. He was involved in pointless feuds, shenaningan endings, and basically lost a majority of his matches. Despite this booking, Ambrose was still being featured consistently on every Raw and Smackdown episodes, house shows, and PPVs. He just wasn't getting the star treatment as Rollins and Reigns, which Ambrose seemed to be content with. And yet whenever his theme song hits, the crowd always cheers the loudest for him.

The May 4, 2015 episode of Monday Night Raw marked Ambrose's sudden push as he defeated Rollins and was added to the main event Payback, turning the Triple Threat match with Reigns, Rollins, and Orton into a Fatal 4-Way match. It felt like a satisfying payoff for staying loyal to Ambrose. Even though he lost in Payback, he granted Rollins a rematch for the title, and is once again headlining another PPV event in Elimination Chamber. Whether he wins or loses doesn't matter; Ambrose is getting a push again.

Side note: I liked Dean Ambrose but I became a total fan girl after Vince and I did a photo with him at Wizard World Comic Con. Meeting someone you admire in person really changes everything O_O

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This is what I've come to appreciate about wrestling. It's the characters and the stories told in a different medium. Sure, the writing can get pretty cheesy, some wrestlers can be gimmicky, and the outcomes are predetermined. You can even read the spoilers online before watching the matches or PPVs on TV. Regardless, good or bad, wrestling is still entertaining to watch.