RAW Review: 11th May

Hello! It's another RAW Review, it's almost as if these are weekly right?! Anyway, after last weeks strong edition of RAW we were headed into the "go-home" show for Paperback you had to at least hope they could carry on some semblance of momentum from last week and deliver at least a "good" show to match the prestige of Paperback which as we learned tonight is not only going to be a Free PPV- but it's not even the biggest PPV this month which they're giving away for free. Anyway, enough aimless rambling, time for some RAW rambling!

Triple H and Others
We kicked off last night's RAW right. We've been deprived of Triple H opening the show for far too long, and in a masochistic sort of way we all kinda missed it let's be honest. RAW just isn't the same without it. The Trips Promo was- well a Trips Promo, I'm not entirely sure what the point he was making was- and he spent an awful lot of time not making that point any clearer. Then we brought out the backing singers with Rollins, J&J and Kane coming out and giving us pretty much exactly what we've had over the last month- but with Triple H being out there to steal all of the heat. The will he-won't he with Kane for me has lost all of the heat it had on it because of the repetitiveness we've had over the last month or so with Rollins and Kane. It did set up the 4 Main Matches to go through the show- but when will whoever is in charge learn that they don't need a 15min+ Promo in order to set up said matches.

Dean Ambrose v J&J Security
This was surprising for a few reasons, firstly that they actually gave us somewhat of a competitive match with J&J involved- and the second most surprising thing was they had Ambrose win in his hometown which is truly breaking with tradition as of late. I actually liked this match as well, while it started out as a "Tag" Handicap which I'm opposed to on a fundamental level the fact Noble and Mercury were both in there for a large portion of the match was good- and crucially it made the Ambrose comeback mean so much more, because while J&J are jobbers there's still two of them, which is after all the point of a handicap. For me this match struck the right balance between playful and serious and all in all made it a pretty decent match.

King Barrett v Dolph Ziggler
Dolph came out like he was coming straight out of a 1980s themed workout video, and it all carried on in that tone for the rest of the segment. The dynamic with Barrett, Dolph, Sheamus and Neville has largely made me forget about the IC Title situation- every time these guys are paired together (which is a lot... No I mean a lot- like every time they're on TV) they deliver a good match and this wasn't an exception- especially when you factor in all of the different things that were taking away from the in-ring focus.

The Sheamus attack after was pretty much as expected, the one thing that did slightly annoy me was that Dolph did get some albeit brief offence in- he'd just been in a match against Barrett who's just won KOTR and taken the Bullhammer and lost, so there would be no shame in having Dolph simply take a beating- but for whatever the reason they felt the need to pop the crowd before Sheamus got back on top, which for me is just pointless.

Erick Rowan v Fandango
This tiny segment is the thing that annoyed me most last night, yes- even more than that segment we're all thinking of right now which I'll discuss a bit later on. Fandango turned less than a month ago, and while he's not exactly set the world alight he's had some good matches and the crowd are behind him to an extent. So to get the absolute burial that there was when it comes to Fandango last night is just bad. The commentators were taking bets on how long it would be before Fandango lost- just, wow. Also surely if Rowan can beat Fandango in 30 Seconds after Rusev scraped past Fandango in 6-7 minutes last week he should be in the US Title Hunt, No? Of course not, logic simply doesn't apply.

Neville v John Cena- US Title
I absolutely loved this, the match itself was alright- I suppose given how watered down the "This is Awesome" chants have become this was deserving of it. Any time Neville gets in the ring you get something exciting to watch- people may get on him about various things, I think I remember seeing Meltzer slag him off not so long ago saying he just did the same moves in a different order or something along those lines, but for me I like him, without loving him on the Main Roster- yet. Which for me is I suppose the point of the push they've given him, and it's one I said right from the outset when he lost to Rollins that it was the way to go- so Neville could get over organically because of his ring-work and be featured regularly without it feeling like he's being shoved down our throats. If anyone had any doubts over whether WWE does see value in Neville you only have to see the finish to see what I've been saying all along. There are some times where Finishers, well don't look like finishers because of the way they're booked especially when it comes to Cena, but this was booked to absolute perfection. Kicking out of an AA is losing a bit of it's meaning now- but for Neville to kick out of an AA before hitting the Red Arrow and then to be denied of the win, which the commentators did put over as much as they would given it was Cena involved for me made this match booked perfectly- and it's something which doesn't really take that much thought, so surely WWE can do it on a consistent basis.

Roman Reigns v Kane
At least we didn't get another Reigns v Kane/Big Show match. Unless they ascend to different levels of stupidity Reigns isn't going to win this Sunday and while I'll discuss it in my Predictions a lot more a Roman Reigns turn is where I'd be going for Sunday, but even if he doesn't turn he needs fresh opposition. I recently listened to Regal's TIJ Podcast- and for me he hit the nail on the head. I'm not going to give an entire synopsis of the Podcast, but in short he was teaming with an Over the Hill Big Daddy when he was I believe 19. Which was a good spot to have, but he didn't want that spot because he wasn't getting better- and he ended up going to a different UK Promoter because he promised to put him in the ring with someone better than him every night. This isn't a slight on Kane and Show, Kane in particular is a freak athlete and his longevity is astounding- but Roman needs to be in the ring with different guys to stop his ring-work stagnating.

Tamina v Brie Bella
This was an alright match in all honesty. But at this point- and it's more true when it comes to Velvet Sky which I talked about in my Impact Review. Take out who Brie is in bed with- nobody cares about her. Nikki has a solid character and foundations for a character, Brie is just kind of there to bounce off of Nikki.

Axelmania & Macho Mandow
I might well get some people hating on me for this- I didn't think this was that bad. It might be because I'm hopelessly naive or like both guys- but I'm just taking this at face value as a bit of fun and nothing more. As much people go on about it, this is "Sports Entertainment" and for that you need some entertainment as well as the sports part. It's not that I loved it- but I understand it needs some variety, and these two as the Minor Powers should be pretty good- because both guys can be entertaining.

Daniel Bryan's Speech
There's not much to say about Bryan- I said most of what I had to say in the Predictions for Extreme Rules. For me Daniel Bryan shouldn't wrestle again. I love Bryan as an in-ring competitor as I'm sure 99% of the people reading this do- but the thing you have to say for Bryan is he's charismatic enough to make being a non in-ring competitor work just as well without throwing himself at the ground multiple times a night. He's doing the Tough Enough stuff already- and he could easily be added to the Smackdown commentary team, or Main Event because I'm sure some of you lot will remember his brief run on Saturday Morning Slam as Daniel Bryan- Bear Enthusiast. In short, just because Bryan is most likely done in the ring, and for me they should have called it last night and just had him call it last night- it doesn't mean Bryan is done being on our screens.

Cesaro v Big E
With all of the guys currently involved in the New Day & KiddSaro feud these are the two guys who I think WWE has the most stock in and see the most value in. So it's smart from that perspective that they feature these guys predominantly when they aren't facing off in Tag Matches. For me this feud is another one of the Wyatts v Usos or Rhodes Brothers v Pretty Much Anyone type of feuds where everything they do is quality- and this wasn't an exception. Aside from Big E nearly breaking his neck this match was solid- and continued the feud well. I still say New Day are the best Heels in the Company at the moment, because they actually get consistent heat from all sides. NEW... DAY ROCKS

Bray Wyatt Promo
I can't remember where I heard this, I think it's an Irish saying- but it's very difficult to push Treacle up a Hill- and that's what Bray's had to do. I like Ryback don't get me wrong- but he's been booked like crap consistently; so for Bray to go from Cena to Ambrose v Taker... to Ryback and for it not to be seen as a massive step-down in terms of kayfabe and perceiving him as "settling" for Ryback to get back on track has taken a lot. For me he hasn't quite done that- I do think their match will surprise a few people and I think they'll tell a good story, but for me this feud was doomed from the start and it's a bridge for Bray to remain relevant until Summerslam and it's pretty much been booked as such. Ryback coming in like a Wrecking Ball and taking out Bray was good. I've thought this for a while- and I know it's completely against the fundamentals of the business, but with the way Ryback's built both physically and his character I'd seriously have Bray drop to his knees and be passive as Ryback unloads on him.

Randy Orton v Seth Rollins
In lieu of giving us a fresh pairing, or as I went off on one about featuring Adam Rose they decided to give us a 20 minute Main Event without a definitive finish as usual which we've seen so many times before. It's not that Rollins and Orton aren't good workers- they're at the top end of the scale without a doubt- but how many times have these two faced off against each other either as the focal point of a Tag/6-Man Tag or in Singles Matches? It's getting to the point where it's ludicrous. The end to the show they gave us was pretty much step for step exactly what gave us last week with everyone killing Rollins before they took out each other with Ambrose standing tall to end the show, which confirms- if it hadn't been already that he's the one taking the pin on Sunday.

Thanks for reading as always, we've got 2 PPVs this month now- and with that it means even more posts on this blog so I hope you stay tuned for all of them. You know it's Summer now the Impact Reviews have started up again- and those'll be continuing throughout the Summer so I hope you read and enjoy those as well. Anyway, thanks again for reading- and also stay tuned for my "Booking Leo Kruger" blog that'll be up soon, because judging by the reads I got on my Booking Posts during Mania Week people enjoy those- thanks again, and let's remember that this is supposed to be fun; let's not take some of this stuff so seriously.