Hello, Welcome to another RAW review- we had a much hyped Roman Reigns interview, and you had to believe with it being 6 months after Wrestlemania they'd do something special- but did they?
Seth Rollins, Ambrose, Cena, The Authority Segment
I liked Ambrose appearing from thin air seemingly as it adds a mystique to his character- although they couldn't of made it any more obvious it was going to happen. I don't like Cena's involvement in this storyline but if they're insistent on having him I'd like it if they kept him on his "crusade" type of gimmick, as we've never really seen Cena properly chase someone in a long time. It seems The Authority are Copy and Pasted into every opening segment- and the role they're taking up now could just as easily be done with a normal GM, and I hope they heat Triple H and Stephanie up again soon- because as I discussed in my Wrestlemania 31- 6 Months in advance blog I think Wrestlemania 31 will be the culmination of The Authority angle.
Cesaro, Gold and Stardust v The Usos and Dolph Ziggler
I was surprised by the outcome given Dolphs recent misplacement of the IC Title belt, and in my opinion we could see a new Intercontinental Champion tonight when Dolph faces Bo Dallas. The match was good- but not great, and the 6 man matches increasingly feel like "just" a way to get 6 people on RAW, and its taking away from the people involved to consistently book them in these matches. The tying in of two storylines in one segment is alright when done right- and if there isn't space on the card, but when we had what followed we should of had these two storylines in separate segments.
Adam Rose with Kathie Lee and Hoda
"CM Punk, CM Punk, CM Punk, CM Punk, CM Punk, CM Punk"
Bray Wyatt- Luke Harper vignette
Whoever shot these vignettes deserve a raise, the cinematography and the different scenes in the vignette edited together made it look like a proper movie trailer- and this is probably the best way to keep The Wyatts on TV without overexposing them until a good story opens up for them.
Bo Dallas v Mark Henry
Bo losing his win streak to R-Truth looks even more stupid in retrospect, I like Bo winning when he's the underdog, as that is legitimate grounds for his "bolieve" gimmick, and as discussed in one of my previous blogs I'd have him feud with everyone Rusev beats until a person turns around as says "Why don't you do it" and then beat Rusevs streak, although given what happened later- that might not materialise.
Ambrose and Cena segment
Ambrose once again proved why he should be in the Main Event, Cenas promo wasn't even as cheesy as usual- although this segment did stink of a last minute rewrite, after previously billing a 3-on-2 match. Ambrose "going for a hotdog" was funny, although they should of taped him going around NYC in a few comedy skits in my opinion.
Triple H trolling Cena made me laugh.
Brie Bella v Summer Rae
This was too short to be offensive, but literally handicapping an average at best wrestler isn't exactly the smartest thing WWE has ever done- and it pretty much buried Summer who given she's the number 1 heel on Total Divas I thought would be doing a bit more in the way of storyline.
Miz and Mizdow giving Kane a fruit basket was funny, and Mizdow even miming what Miz is saying now was really, really funny- and it speaks for Sandow that he's managed to make the gimmick work.
Jack Swagger v Tyson Kidd
Kidd deserves better, I like the fact they've seen his NXT "Natties Husband" gimmick and brought it onto the main stage, but unless they put a microphone in Kidds hand the gimmick won't get over- and him losing already isn't exactly a way to build him up.
Roman Reigns Update
They were hyping this since last week, and it lasted approximately 20 seconds- So lets just make "Via Satellite" jokes.
El Torito v Hornswoggle
Ugh.
The Rock return/ Rusev, Lana Promo
Wow. There was that story about him being in the city on the Dirtsheets earlier on in the day, but from the articles I've read since it sounds like his "business meetings" were legitimate meetings and this kind of fell into place. I think we've vastly underestimated the way in which WWE value Rusev as a commodity, and this showed they clearly have big things in store for Rusev- which I don't think anybody really saw.
The Rock has just an insane level of charisma, and a connection with fans very few people have managed to create in Wrestling- and if you consider the amount of time he's not been a Full-Time wrestler, you have to criticise WWE for not building new stars to have that level of connection with the crowd. I liked Rock getting the better of Rusev, but I can't see a match happening between the two anytime in the near future- but hopefully WWE keep surprising us and keep some of their forward momentum.
Paige and Alicia Fox v A.J. and Emma
The crowd was a bit flat- understandably about this segment, but the story told was a good one, although A.J. walking out on Emma isn't exactly a "babyface" thing to do so I'm intrigued to see where they're building this to.
Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan vignette
The stories about Harper getting a singles push were seemingly false, I don't know what this is building to but I'm very intrigued and in my opinion this is building to Harper and Rowan stepping out into the world on their own two feet hence the Pregnant Belly we saw at the end. I don't know if Bray will move on- or as reported earlier today will "recruit" The Ascension as his new family, but either way this should be good TV if booked right.
The Miz v Sheamus
Mizdow being the most over act in this match said a lot. These kind of matches are when the crowd is really interactive, and the match benefits from it. The crowd popping everytime Mizdow did Dirty Heel stuff made me laugh, although the commentators really, really annoyed me in this match. How does ducking a finisher, and winning with a roll up cleanly constitute stealing a victory?
I had my say on the Susan G. Komen situation on Twitter last night, if you want my thoughts go on my Twitter- but its not worth the rant.
John Cena v Randy Orton, Kane and Seth Rollins
We've gone from Beer Trucks, to Milk Trucks, to... a Hotdog Cart. Ambrose surprisingly has great comedic timing and if the situation were to arrive I could see him doing vignettes similar to the Austin ones when he had his injury. We all knew the match would deteriorate pretty quickly, although I did like Rollins playing the slimy heel and coming into the match when Cena was down. The Ambrose run-in was funny, although I thought he'd of done more stuff with the actual cart, and the set-up for the Cena-Ambrose match was played really well- and the Ambrose attack with the Futureshock made you want to see what was going to happen next.
Overall if you cut out some of the crap, and made it a 2 Hour Edition- it would be one of the better RAWs of the year. However they didn't so you can only describe it as passable- with Rock and Ambrose saving it from being completely woeful.
Thanks for reading, feedback is appreciated on all of my blogs. Thanks again.
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