RAW Review- 20th October

Hello! After we had a good old fashioned wrasslin show for last weeks RAW you'd be forgiven for having high hopes for this edition of RAW, but did it live up to expectations?

The Authority Promo
So John Cena lost his match to Ambrose, to get a #1 Contender Match? I really don't see the logic in the "Sloppy Seconds" match getting the #1 Contender Stipulation- and its probably just a way for WWE to justify Orton and Cena Main Eventing the PPV despite there being one week of build for it. The promos were perfectly fine and they did an alright job hyping the PPV but it was nothing special, and the back and forth between Orton and Rollins was a bit meh in my opinion.

Sheamus and The Usos v Damien Mizdow, Goldust & Stardust
The reason they had Mizdow in the match was basically so they could keep the audiences attention on what was going on in the ring in my opinion, because for the last few weeks Mizdow has stolen all the attention away from the in-ring action. The match was good, but the number of 6-Man matches these men have been involved with in recent times cheapens the "Everyone gets taken out" part of the match because you've seen it a million times before. Mizdow winning the match was a nice surprise, and is presumably so after Sheamus beats Miz at Hell in a Cell they can build to a Miz v Mizdow match which Miz'll probably win and Mizdow will be forced back into irrelevancy. Miz's overreaction to Mizdow winning was hilarious though "I WON!".

The Orton backstage promo was weird, although them having Rollins effectively book Orton's PPV match was an interesting development- and after what happened later will help set up Ortons face turn presumably.

The Bray Wyatt vignettes are still amazing... But you already know that *winks*. Where's Ricardo?

A.J. v Alicia Fox
Fox and Paige were never going to look bad the day of the announcement they were going to be on Total Divas (which I might write a future blog about when it comes to Paige on the show) so the distraction roll-up win was the best way they could have booked this. The fake fight between Fox and Paige was a good ruse, and it was one of the better Diva distraction moments in recent memory.

The second Orton backstage promo with Rollins helped to further tease what was going to happen later, but it was the third time we'd seen Orton already.

Randy Orton, John Cena, Paul Heyman promo
Oh Look its Randy again! This Orton promo was pretty good in my opinion, he spoke at an unnaturally fast pace and he got his point across really well in my opinion- although the cheap heat of going after (insert hometown) sports team was unnecessary in my opinion. As unnecessary as Cena getting the cheap pop for praising (insert hometown) sports team. The mic work on both of these two was perfectly alright, but its hard for Cena to hype the match effectively when he was chasing Rollins every week prior to this one. Then we got the return of the king. Heyman coming back was presumably just to remind the casual viewer that Brock does in fact still exist, however I read somewhere Brock isn't coming back until 8th December so god knows what they'll have presumably Cena do for over a month other than threatening Heyman, which as I've said previously just feels really uncomfortable. Orton RKO'ing both wasn't unexpected after all the Vines this previous week- and i get the feeling the whole segment was mainly because they wanted to feel socially relevant.

Rusev v Big E
Rusev rediscovered his anti-black vendetta this week- and it was back with a vengeance. I'm not going to really comment on the match because it was what it was, and we've seen the match a million times before- and on PPV where they got more time. What happened after was one of the weirdest and most uncomfortable segments I think I've ever seen. As Rusev was going to rip the flag down, which would have been the first physically provocative thing he'd have done directly against the US off the top of my head. We had a "soldier" jump the barrier and try and attack Rusev- which is illegal by the way. So Rusev was well within his rights to kick the "soldier" in the face. We the found out later there were a number of inaccuracies in the "Soldiers" uniform which is properly disrespectful to the armed forces in my opinion. We then had Big Show come out to help the invader- Moral of the story children, Jump the Barrier to attack someone and you get to meet your favourite superstars.

Big Show Promo
"You Don't disrespect a US Soldier"... So why have an awful mock up of an army uniform? The promo was what it was and Show did his angry and constipated look really well. Nobody really expected Rusev to still be in his dressing room when Show got back there- but overall they've built this feud pretty well in my opinion.

The Ambrose backstage promo was really strange, which is a good thing. I like the idea of using WWE Films to scout opponents so when HHH comes back they can use the Chaperone.

Brie Bella v Summer Rae
I was slightly distracted by a block of cheese during this match, which was probably a good thing on balance. Although Nikki not even being able to act in a backstage segment cemented this feud as the Gooker Winner in my opinion.

Dean Ambrose's Prop Comedy Hour
Even Ambrose couldn't save this. Whoever thought Ambrose should come out and make bad puns and attack a sex doll should be fired on the spot.

Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Mick Foley Promos
This was better. Foley coming out was a nice surprise, and definitely added something to the segment after all he is the man who truly got the Cell over in my (and many others) opinion, and the legacy of the match was built off of his broken body. The Rollins and Ambrose promos were good as well but Foley stole the show with his mic work, which is saying something. It also reminded me of the feud we never had with Ambrose and Foley.

Cesaro v Dolph Ziggler
Sheamus lost, The representative (sorry, Advocate) for the WWE Champion was laid out, the Tag Champions looked ordinary and now the IC Champion lost clean. A Week before a PPV ladies and gentlemen. Don't get me wrong the match was very good, but with the men involved it would be more noteworthy if they didn't have a very good match. But having Cesaro beat the IC Champion clean in the middle of the ring with no kind of shenanigans was a stupid decision by whoever made it.

Another backstage segment, another Orton appearance I make that 6- and he hasn't even wrestled yet!

Randy Orton, Kane and Seth Rollins v John Cena and Dean Ambrose: Street Fight
This was perplexing to me. They were always going to lower the cell, and anyone who didn't think they would should be locked up. But why have "Cell Spots" on Free TV? I thought they'd use the Cell to isolate either Cena or more likely Ambrose and every would hit their finishers on him the crowd would boo and fade to black. Instead we had a mini cell match with proper cell spots- which given the confines of PG you don't really see many Cell spots aside from getting flung into the Cell which is what we saw Rollins do. I understand because of the Network PPV numbers are dropping as such they might transition to having more stuff on free TV. But the segment didn't immediately make me want to watch the PPV on Sunday. Rollins curb stomping Orton was a nice development, if a bit obvious and if they could somehow maneuver it so Rollins cost Orton the Cell match at Hell in a Cell it'd be good.

Thanks for reading, Its a full week of blogging for me as its a Fulham review tomorrow, Impact review on Thursday, Fulham Preview on Friday, Fulham review on Saturday, Hell in a Cell Predictions on Sunday, Hell in a Cell Review on Monday and then we're back with the RAW Review this time next week! Thanks again for reading, any and all feedback is appreciated on any of my blogs.