RAW Review- 15th September

Welcome to another RAW review, and after last weeks mild improvement the only way wasn't up anymore- but did this episode continue into the upper echelons of just mildly irritation, or plummet back to the depths of a Kardashian marathon?

Cena-Heyman promo
Why should a beating of a 50 year old non-wrestler, who hasn't done anything to his counterpart make me "pop"? Both of the promos were good, however they were bested in their second segment together- however the "Halftime" thing was stupid and was another pathetic attempt to get a rub off Monday Night Football, and Cena kidnapping Heyman (and a cameraman it would seem) isn't exactly "babyface" behaviour- and Heyman (considering he had a Dad who was a lawyer- and should be quite familiar with a court of law) could of used the kidnapping as grounds to arrest Cena!

The mildly racist Khali segment was stupid, considering if he had his back to me I could probably take him considering I had a full locker room of potential weapons to use on his legs.

Chris Jericho v Kane
So it seems Jericho wasn't finishing up last week with Bray- which makes having the rubber match on RAW last week even more idiotic. You have to presume they sacrificed the PPV match for a mild rating spike for their "Season Premiere"- but in turn they've left Jericho treading water for his last week on his current run with the company and (more later) it looks like they're going to kill Brays momentum AGAIN after he gone over a top star. The match itself was perfectly fine, it amazes me that Kane still has his knees considering the amount of time he's had in the business and the moves he still does.

Jack Swagger v Bo Dallas
So it seems they're done with this feud after 2 weeks, with Bo hardly getting in an offensive maneuver. Bo's gimmick had so much potential in my opinion- and you just have to look at his NXT work to prove this, where the Full Sail crowd absolutely hated him. But once again all of Triple H's good work down in NXT has counted for nothing once the stars get to the main roster. Swagger "still" getting a big pop is surprising me given they've basically tried to bury him on commentary in the last few weeks- combined with the fact he's a babyface who hasn't lived up to his promises recently. This has also shown (at least in my opinion) that if he hadn't been busted in the build to Wrestlemania 28 he'd be in and around the upper echelons of WWE at the moment rather than where he's currently at.

Brie Bella and A.J. v Nikki Bella and Paige
Its pretty clear (at least in my opinion) whats going to happen at Night of Champions. The non-addition of Brie to the match has made it pretty clear she's going to cost Nikki the match, leaving Paige to pin A.J. most likely. You know why this segment was bearable? There wasn't a microphone in sight!

Have WWE really gone so broke they can't afford "real" prop phones?

Big Show v Bray Wyatt
Firstly they've turned Harper and Rowan into a joke. These two should of been built only slightly less strongly than Bray in my opinion- and this would allow Bray to become a bigger attraction which (more later) will always mean it has a greater impact when he does wrestle. As such they've turned into a Curtis Axel (with Heyman) role where they have to take all the beatings to protect to main provocateur. If the dirtsheets are to be believed Big Show is behind Cena in the line to Lesnar (although I still think Cena will win on Sunday) which doesn't bode well for Bray- and could easily undo the last three months of good work Jericho's done with him.

The Usos and Sheamus v Cesaro and The Dust Brothers
I would hope the irregular occurence of having the babyface win on the last RAW before a PPV would mean we could see on/both of the titles involved in this match change hands. I would put the belts on The Dust Brothers personally- although my wish for them to revert to Cody and Dustin Rhodes hasn't appeared to come true they still could be a very entertaining heel tag team. I can't see them putting the belt on Cesaro just because there are so few midcard babyfaces for Cesaro to feud with in comparison to the number of heels. The match was pretty good to be fair, the amount of time they were given did limit the amount the 6 men could do- however the fast paced finish was what we've come to expect from matches involving the Usos and the Dust Brothers not taking the pin reinforces the potential title change in my opinion.

Cena-Heyman Promo Part 2
Wow! Heyman absolutely owned it in this promo. Even by Heymans ridiculously high standards this exceeded expectation. The teasing of Cena "embracing the hate" so to speak- is just that a tease, however it adds another dimension to Cenas character which has been stale for the last 6-7 years. Cena attacking Heyman after what Heyman said leaves the direction Cena is going unclear for the first time in seemingly forever.

I've had a bad feeling about Cena winning this match ever since Cena went through the Wyatts as he did. Cena NEVER usually loses Rubber Matches, and with recent reports of Vince wanting Cena to look even stronger I think Cena could be having the belt around his neck pretty soon.

The brawl has given me some hope with regard to Lesnar retaining as usually the person who gets the upper hand usually loses on the PPV, however with Cena you never know. The commentators putting over Cena breaking Lesnars nose was stupid- A) Because there was no blood B) Cenas punches were so limp wristed a hug from a puppy would probably have more chance of breaking someones nose.

Cameron v Naomi
She botched a Cover! It would appear NXT doesn't teach you which way the body needs to be facing in order to cover someone. I would like to think it was intentional, but Cameron being generally awful I highly doubt it.

Dolph Ziggler and R-Ziggler v The Miz and Mizdow
The commentators- specifically Cole pretending they couldn't tell the difference between Ziggler and Truth was stupid and childish- as the whole point (unless I've misinterpreted it) is they look so ridiculously different like those old films when they would always cut to a wide angle but you could see the stunt driver in the car and they looked completely different to the main star. I'd like to think Miz hitting Mizdow (although by accident) could lead to a face turn by Sandow and he could start regaining some credibility, however this is too logical so it won't happen.

Seth Rollins v Roman Reigns
Whats the point of PPVs? The babyface to go over the dastardly heel who's tormented him from previous RAWs. Instead we've had Reigns beat Rollins/Rollins and Kane together every time they've touched. This isn't just making Rollins look bad, its making Ambrose look like the weakest of three former Shield members- which judging by crowd reactions should be completely flipped. The problem with this match was once again, it was made wholly apparent Reigns isn't ready for the push they're giving him. Rollins was carrying him for large parts of the match, although these two definitely have better chemistry than Reigns had with Orton. I don't see why we should care about the PPV match now the babyface has already gone over clean!, Its basic story telling WWE has somehow messed up

Mark Henry "Rallies America"
What was more out of place in the Main Event segment, This or The Bellas? At least Stephanie had some kind of heat on her which made the crowd get into the segment- Henry came out and the crowd went mild.

I was in a discussion with someone on Twitter who I shall name (@BestInTheGalaxy) about why WWE should tone down the USA gimmicks when they want to make up their Network Subs internationally, and his argument was I shouldn't let one feud affect my buying or lack-there-of of the Network. However when an (albeit big) niche gimmick is Main Eventing their flagship show I don't see why as a Non-American I should care for the company as a whole.

I didn't mind the Swagger gimmick against Rusev as thats been his long-term gimmick, however Henry has seemingly just rediscovered his patriotism. Henry getting the bett of Rusev presumably means Rusev will go over, and hopefully this'll be the end of the USA gimmicks for now- as the Network launches in WWEs second biggest market (UK) at the end of the month

To Summaries there are three words to summarise whats wrong with Wrestling Currently- Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Thanks again for reading, Feedback is appreciated. In case you come here to read both my Wrestling and Fulham blogs I'm simply not doing Fulham blogs at the moment because its frankly too depressing. Thanks again for reading.