Hello! Second Blog of the day we've already had the Soccerball- now time for the Wrasslin. I had high hopes for the PPV, I really did- it wasn't going to be perfect but I thought we'd see some real standout moments from some guys in an attempt to elevate themselves in the eyes of the crowd this close to Mania, but instead we got a pretty average episode of RAW.
Pre-Show
I didn't see the Pre-Show, it was more a convenience thing with the Oscars Red Carpet being on Sky Movies; but you can never go wrong with a Heyman Promo- ever, and Mizdow channeling his inner Raven so it would seem looked hilarious.
Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show v Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan & Ryback
If you were following along on my Twitter commentary you'll know I had a surprisingly good night prediction wise last night. It was almost funny because almost every match on the card could have gone either way in my opinion. We started with the 6-Man Tag which pretty much meant there wouldn't be a turn in the match as I predicted- but what I definitely wasn't expecting was Big Show & Kane to come out of the match with the most polish left on them. I'd expected a turn resulting in Team Rollins winning, what I did expect was via Big Show shenanigans Kane would score the Pin with Rollins down and out- especially with Dolph being on the other end of said pin. It was a horrendous decision in my opinion.
The Return of Orton was somewhat cold in my opinion. It was acknowledged that Roman Reigns would be in the Main Event- with Bryan being questionable, so I'd have had Rollins, Kane, Big Show and others all beating up Reigns and Bryan in the Main Event segment tomorrow, with Orton coming in and cleaning house to end RAW- as opposed to having his big return coming 20 Minutes into a "Free PPV".
Goldust v Stardust
The promo before the match from Goldust did so much to build the match given the ridiculously short amount of time they had to build what is hopefully the first installment of the feud. You can tell Cody comes from a wrestling family because he really gets subtlety, perhaps I'm reading too much into it all- but the fact Stardust was wearing tights as opposed to his bodysuit with his mouth not being painted it highlights the slow transition back to Cody Rhodes. The "Cody" chants could start adding fuel to the fire so to speak- and depending on how long they're intending to keep this transition going they could have the "Cody" chants lead to more aggression on the part of Stardust to make the gimmick work. The match itself was pretty weak, but it was intentionally weak because of the story they wanted told so I'm not going to lay into it too much- and I'm sure when we get to Mania if they're given time we'll get a seriously great match from the two.
The Stardust/Cody Promo after was top draw stuff. It was by far and a way his best promo under the Stardust moniker- and his best promo since he was "fired" after losing to Orton in my opinion.
KiddSaro v The Uso's
If you factor everything in this was probably the best match of the night. I think it was quite telling that with the exception of Daniel Bryan (not even his match) the crowd were most into the Tag Match. It was far from a perfect match- but it delivered the highs and lows and what you expect in the match- in short it was good because it got all the fundamentals right and didn't try to over-complicate it. I'm really happy for KiddSaro winning, and the more than deserved a run with the belts because they've been a breath of fresh air in the Tag Division since they were formed.
I can see them holding off for the Rematch until the Pre-Show for Mania, although I can also see the Primetime Players in that spot to face KiddSaro.
Triple H, Sting Confrontation
I said in my Predictions that simplicity would be the key to this segment- and Sting not saying a single word was perfect. I liked the segment because it did a really good job setting the match up- and Sting getting the "first cut" so to speak was interesting, because I thought we'd see Triple H getting the upper-hand given the fact in Sting's Prior two appearances he's gotten one over on HHH. I'm not sure how many RAWs Sting'll be on between now and Mania but It'll be interesting to see when Sting does show up how many times HHH does get the upper-hand on him.
Nikki Bella v Paige
This match was standard Diva fare nothing more nothing less.
The ending leaves it open for a Rematch at Mania- although I can see it turning into a Triple Threat with A.J. depending on the situation the Defamation Lawsuit against Punk has had on their relationship- or a massive Diva match like last year just to get as many Total Divas on the card as possible.
Bad News Barrett v Dean Ambrose
This habit of jobbing out the IC Champion at seemingly every opportunity isn't doing anyone any favours. The sketchy finish was as expected, but I really didn't like the way it all played out- I would have preferred Ambrose's lunacy to cause him to get a roll-up loss so Barrett could say he outsmarted Ambrose before he got the beating.
Once again the finish has left it all open for Mania, but given the ridiculously one-sided way in which this feud has been built I'm not sure how much they can do to salvage Barrett's standing.
Bray Wyatt Promo
This was the best bit of the PPV by a country mile. If they'd had it in front of a crowd not channeling their inner empty-arena match it would've been a lot better. The image of Bray in the coffin is the lasting image from the PPV in my opinion- and while it wasn't his best promo in terms of how significant it was it was near perfect and it did the job perfectly. I would only assume Taker will be on RAW tonight & we'll see our first back and forth, but Bray could probably carry this feud on his own until the last RAW before Mania and it'd still be top draw stuff.
Rusev v John Cena
Anyone who doesn't think Cena can't put a 5* Match on is kidding themselves. Anyone who thinks Rusev can't put a quality match on is kidding themselves. Both of these guys given their size are freak athletes- but there is absolutely 0 Chemistry between them. Their styles are perhaps a bit too similar, so rather than merging it just turned into them bouncing off of each other and not properly getting going. The final couple of minutes did pick up, but the "passing out" finish has been done too many times with regard to Rusev now in my opinion- and I think Rusev going crazy and beating Cena to within an inch of his life in turn causing a DQ would've been much more effective.
The Finish has of course left it open for the Mania rematch, with Cena most likely overcoming the odds etc. but I'm hoping it doesn't affect Rusev too much and if they build it right between tonight and Mania the loss shouldn't affect Rusev too much.
Roman Reigns v Daniel Bryan
This match was just so "meh", for a spot in the Wrestlemania Main Event I was expecting carnage- even the Spanish Announce Desk lived to tell the tale. I said just before the match started that this really needed a stipulation to get the wheels turning for this match because of Reigns' limited skill set, and I think I was proven right. Granted the crowd were dead pretty much all night, but the crowd didn't really get into the match and they didn't really give them much to cheer about. It was probably to make Roman Look Strong- but we didn't have many false-finishes and when we did it didn't really mean much.
The Mania Main Event is now set in stone it would seem, and god help Brock & Heyman trying to get this over to the crowd, but if anyone can Heyman can. It looks unfortunately like Rollins will end up fighting Jon Stewart for Mania- which'll leave it open for "DZvDB" which is the most likely scenario I can see for Mania now.
Thanks for reading as always, the PPV was just ridiculously underwhelming from my point of view- which is a reflection on the product as a whole. Anyway I'll still be watching RAW- god knows why, so that review will be up tommorow- Stay Tuned for that, and lets just pray it gets better.
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