On the March 9th edition of Monday Night RAW, the night ended with Randy Orton delivering a vicious beat down to Seth Rollins, throwing insults at him sporadically during the assault. Rollins knew that Orton would not associate himself with The Authority when during the match, Orton flipped the bird on both hands, signaling his allegiance against Rollins and his support. The more aggressive side of Orton being unleashed, a sight that is familiar to wrestling fans who have witnessed Orton during his career over the years, was refreshing to see and an example of the WWE listening to fans cries of wanting more extreme situations and less “PG fluff.”

The WWE seems to be continuing to listen to the #GiveDivasAChance campaign, with AJ Lee’s return on the March 2nd edition of RAW featuring her saying, “I figured I’d come back and help give divas a chance,” opening alluding to the worldwide trend generated by fans wanting more air time and respect given to the talented women of the WWE. While these are only just a couple of instances seen, perhaps there are even more changes to be made, and for the better. Social media is a powerful tool for speaking for change, and the more fans are vocal about what they want more of and less of, the more we may be seeing an even better product. Here’s hoping this is the beginning of these news “winds of change.”

-Celine

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On the March 2nd edition of WWE Monday Night RAW, Seth Rollins hosted his own version of the popular late night Comedy Central news satire show, The Daily Show after having a feud with its host, Jon Stewart following comments Rollins made on a previous RAW that he could be a better host of The Daily Show and make it “watchable.” Stewart responded in a video that Rollins was in for “a world of hurt.” Their feud went to the next level when Rollins was made a surprise appearance on the actual Daily Show by interrupting Stewart’s “Moment of Zen” segment and then showing up in studio moments later inviting him to Monday Night RAW. On RAW, Rollins and Stewart finally had their confrontation, resulting in Stewart eventually kicking Rollins in the groin as he was distracted by Randy Orton walking to the ring.

One of the things that was very enjoyable about this feud was the fact that Jon Stewart is a known and passionate wrestling fan. He has been seen ringside at pay-per-view events, discussing WWE on The Daily Show, and even took a photo at last year’s SummerSlam with his son and Zeb Colter. On the July 21st, 2014 edition of The Daily Show (Link at 3:46) , when discussing current events involving Russia and used a clip of Lana in the ring to help get his point across before going into a comedic rant involving the likes of Jack Swagger, Cesaro, and Rusev—names the common/passive celebrity wrestling fan would not know of. Stewart also showed his fan love during his June 18th, 2014 interview with comedian Kevin Hart (Link at 1:39), when names such as Bruno Sammartino, Chief Jay Strongbow, Junkyard Dog, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, and Haystacks Calhoun were discussed, both being passionate wrestling fans and making RAW appearances.

On the March 9th RAW, Wiz Khalifa performed wearing a John Cena shirt and seemed to be having a fun time. However, this has been seen many times with celebrities who are promoting something on the show. Wiz has had ties with the WWE previously, having his song “We Own It” be the 2014 Royal Rumble theme song and collaborating with John Cena for the WWE2K15soundtrack. His music featured in the Fast and Furious franchise, which has featured WWE alum Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as one of its stars since the 5th installment. While he may be a fan, it’s a different type of fan than the passionate type of member of the WWE Universe Jon Stewart. Perhaps Stewart makes an appearance at WrestleMania. In the end, it’s always fun to see celebrities on RAW but to see the ones who are enthusiastic and openly passionate fans, whether associating with the WWE at an event or not, is truly something special.

-Celine

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