Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns Promo
Rollins calling out Stewart is a mixed bag in my opinion, with the main positive being it distracts from the other Rollins related new story we've had recently. The Rollins Promo was alright, it wasn't anything special- but at this stage there isn't really much for Rollins to get his teeth stuck into with monologue promos. The Roman Promo was pretty bad- he clearly got thrown by the Punk chants, and he ended up fluffing his lines, so god help him when he has to go in front of crowds like Chicago, Night After Mania etc. Reigns killing everyone was alright, but the end image of Roman standing on the Briefcase was the wrong move unless they were going to work the angle- which they clearly won't.
Rollins, Orton Backstage Promo
I liked this Promo just because it furthered the Orton storyline in a concise way, and Orton seemingly becoming Rollins' enabler and him egging him on could be the catalyst for their Mania match; although it seemingly is going to go down the Stewart route.
Dean Ambrose v Bad News Barrett
I'd like to give WWE the benefit of the doubt and say they wanted this storyline to be a complete cluster. The match itself was alright, but it was never going to be a show-stealer because the attention was predominantly on the goings on outside the ring. Its the most TV Time R-Truth's had in over 2 Years. Everyone stealing the IC Title is a quirky way to get the Title Match over, but in my opinion they have to be careful they don't completely neuter BNB (more so than he already is) and in the eyes of the casual viewer they don't see him as Champion anymore.
"Niagara"
There was a lot of Promo's last night, Thankfully this one was from Bra- and he's doing a great job selling the feud with the very limited ways in which he can build it, sans Undertaker. The whole feud is seemingly about where Taker is, so by the very nature it has to be somewhat cryptic- but I'm just worried with the number of RAWs we have between now and Mania, Bray's words will start to lose meaning; because when there's very little movement on one-side of the feud there's only so much that can be done.
KiddSaro & Natalya v The Uso's & Naomi
Tyson Kidd is the perfect cowardly heel, he's small enough to sell himself as a coward believably but also has enough where-with-all and experience to not overplay it. We've had some variation on this match so often recently it does lose meaning- and I hope WWE start to diversify, and at the very least introducing one of The Ascension & The Primetime Players into the Tag Title mix. The injury angle they worked was a good one, although as Naomi is a babyface I expected her to show some restraint with Nattie getting the roll-up.
John Cena, Stephanie McMahon, Curtis Axel Promo
AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA.
John Cena v Curtis Axel
AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA.
Rusev Promo
Rusev got a Rosetta Stone for Christmas- and its paying off! This was probably Rusev's Best Promo- and he really made it work with the crowd, I said after the Rumble he's the last old-school "Boo Me" Heel- and that is really working in Cena's favour- and as I said last week, Cena having to pursue someone adds another dimension to his character which he's been lacking a lot.
Triple H, Booker T Promo
Ah, Wrestlemania 19- Oh the memories! I actually liked this Triple H Promo, He sold his power-trippy side really well; although I would've preferred for Booker to psych himself up like he's gonna kill HHH before he goes, and then HHH says it was a joke- because that would've been a good way to pop the crowd. Similar to the Bray Promo, there's only so much HHH can do when there's no opposing force for the Promo.
Paige v Nikki Bella
We Gave Divas a Chance, and the crowd responded "CM PUNK, CM PUNK, CM PUNK". A.J. coming back is interesting, I still think her days are numbered in WWE- especially with the current lawsuit A.J. is involved with by association with WWE, Amann & Punk. I really am going to be interesting to see how they book A.J. between now & Mania, because they have to balance out Elevating Paige without overshadowing A.J.- although I can't see a scenario where the Bellas don't win at Mania, to finally give Total Divas a triumphant Mania moment- which they could of course give with Paige, but A.J. would be in every celebratory camera shot.
The Today Show, With Seth Rollins
Even with the best will in the world, and Rollins tried his absolute best- but he simply couldn't get his monologue over. It just didn't click. That said, I did (surprisingly) like Stewart's Promo- and I highly doubt it, but I could see him becoming a manager. He played his role in the segment to perfection, and the Promo was alright in fairness, it was refreshing to see a Celebrity come in as a fan, as opposed to plugging something. Orton seemingly inadvertently helping out Stewart was a nice touch, and simplicity will be the key to this angle, and as long as they don't over-think things Rollins v Orton has Show-Stealing Potential in my opinion.
Daniel Bryan v Luke Harper
The match was very limited, in terms of timeframe- so what they could pack into the match was also limited. Harper is perhaps the most underused guy currently, with KiddSaro getting somewhat of a push- and I hope he causes carnage in the IC Title Ladder Match, because as it stands he's the only heavyweight in the match- but he's also capable of high-spots.
The IC Title Hot Potato after the match was really awkward in my opinion- and as I've previously said, they need to be careful the casual viewer doesn't completely forget who is the actual Champion.
Paul Heyman Promo
I usually make jokes saying whoever cut off Roman instantly turned babyface- so on the same token whoever cut off Heyman is a Heel for Life. This Promo was straight out of the top draw- and given the number of talk segments we had tonight for this to shine through like it did is more of an accomplishment than some people would realise. Believe That.
Seth Rollins v Roman Reigns
As far as Roman matches go this was one of the better ones we've had. People could attribute that solely to Rollins, but you can never say I'm not fair and Roman does deserve some of the credit. It worries me to an extent they always feel the need to introduce foreign agents into Roman matches- because when it comes to Mania it'll be Brock, Roman and the Crowd. Orton winning Rollins the match was a nice twist, I do wonder how they're going to get a proper story arc in the very limited time they have left- unless of course Orton v Rollins isn't in fact happening.
Thanks for reading as always, this RAW was quite fun- not be confused with good; but there was enough combustible elements to at least keep you watching. I'm just giving y'all a warning now that I'm going to be doing 31 Blogs during Wrestlemania Week Tuesday-Tuesday finishing with the RAW after Mania Review. I won't be expecting you all to read all of them, but I hope a couple tke your fancy. Anyway, Thats in a couple of weeks,stay tuned- and... AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA.
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