RAW Review: 30th March

Hello! We're there, it's the 31st Mania Week Blog- and just as we started it's a RAW Review. The Night after Mania is always a fun night- and it's usually the night where we get the hints as to where the WWE intends to go now all of the Part-Timers have for the most part gone home until the next major PPV. We also get the guys from NXT getting the demotion to the Main Roster which is always initially exciting, but long-term crushingly disappointing- so we had all that to look forward, so how did RAW play out?

Paul Heyman w/ Brock, Stephanie Promos
I really liked this, we've had so many ineffective opening segments where the same result could have been achieved in half the time or simply put together in a backstage promo. So it was nice to have a RAW open with a really punchy promo where it didn't feel like they were rambling and dragging it out, mind you when Paul Heyman is involved "rambling and dragging out" aren't words that ever come to mind. Stephanie is a good heel, as I thought Rousey wasn't at RAW which backs up even more my feeling towards the Mania Segment being over-long so her part in this segment was pretty interchangeable. That said it was a solid opening to RAW and it did a good job setting up what would happen later.

Daniel Bryan v Dolph Ziggler- IC Title
Well we didn't have it at Mania, but we had the next best thing- and the match was arguably better than the one they had at Mania because they got a lot more time than they would have gotten on a congested Mania card to really build the match right- and it made this match extraordinary. They built the match perfectly- and the pacing was right; it made Dolph look good and it also made the IC Title look better right from the outset this side of Mania because we had such a match with the calibre of stars that were involved. Even the nuances like doing in-ring introductions enhance the Titles Prestige, which is clearly what they're attempting to do with both Bryan and Cena defending the Titles from the outset.

The Sheamus run-in was pretty good in all honesty, it was quite distracting with his hair-do but take the hair out of the equation it was pretty good, and I'm just happy to see Sheamus as a Heel again- because laughy, jokey Sheamus I absolutely hated.

KiddSaro & The Ascension v The New Day & The Lucha Dragons
It was the first NXT spot of the night, and I do consider this to be the call-up for them despite them working a few Main Events. It was a good debut for the Kalisto- and the way he went super saiyan on Cesaro when he first came in was a good way to announce himself on the Main Roster and to the "casual" fans who may not watch NXT. This was the Lucha Dragons moment, it was good to see The Ascension featured on a RAW- and after they got a good elimination with Mark Henry it does seem like there's a tiny flicker of life still in the Ascension- but as I said this was very much The Lucha's night, and it'll be interesting to see how they handle the Tag Titles now we have so many teams vying for the #1 Contender Spot, because they can't do Fatal 4 Way tags every PPV.

Seth Rollins v Brock Lesnar
I absolutely loved this, I think it's fairly safe to say Brock is a babyface now- but as I've already discussed today one of the ways they may lift Brock's "suspension" is to have him come back and help The Authority. It's been so long since we've had a babyface just wreak havoc and kill people for the simple reason of him being angry- and if you didn't get a kick out of seeing Brock F5 Cole then you simply aren't human. I was wondering how they'd write Brock off until the Summerslam build- and as with the way they booked the Mania Main Event I have to say WWE played it perfectly- the only negative I'd have for this segment is that it wasn't the Main Event. The Stephanie Promo with Renee after was much better from her because she was able to get her heel persona over a lot more than in the opening segment- and I loved it.

Mizdow v Stardust
The match was good for what it was, and what it was a vehicle to set-up the after match beatdown which seemed a bit rushed to me. I understand this is a midcard angle but Miz is a quality heel and I'd hoped he'd have to be dragged off Mizdow because he was so enraged.

Adrian Neville (Who I think lost his first name) v Curtis Axel
I was so conflicted in this match, on the one hand you have one of the legends of our business in Curtis Axel- and then you have Adrian Neville getting the demotion from NXT and making his main roster debut. This was of course Neville's moment, but you have to credit Axel for the way he sold for him- and made him look like the proverbial "million bucks". BUT I'M STILL ON THE AXEL TRAIN, AND THE AXELMANIAC WILL HEAD INTO AXTREME RULES STRONGER THAN EVER BAYBAY!

John Cena v Dean Ambrose- US Title
As with Bryan's match, this was a quality match- I'd argue better even. For me this match told a better story, which isn't just down to Ambrose for those that still hate Cena blindly. I've seen some people saying Ambrose was jobbed out etc., and while he lost he looked amazing last night- I don't know how someone can honestly say Ambrose was being jobbed out when he kicked out of an AA. As I've said I really liked this match- and the story they told. I thought we'd get something a bit different other than a handshake (or slap) and I was fully expecting Ambrose to Snap- mind you that wouldn't have been the crowd to do it in front of if they wanted Ambrose to be the heel. As I said with the IC Title just having these matches contested on RAW with the guys that are contesting them instantly elevates the US Title- and if they can keep on this path with both of the "Secondary" belt I'll be massively impressed.

Seth Rollins Backstage Promo
I liked this promo a lot- it got Seth over as a Heel Champion immensely, and you did have to laugh at something that wasn't really even touched on that Seth was perfectly happy to face Orton "Bad Foot" and all. I'm hoping Orton isn't in the hunt for the WWE Title- because to be frank we've had enough Orton in the Main Event, and he should start to be used to put other guys over.

AJ, Paige & Naomi v Natalya & The Bellas
I've seen some people slating the chants the crowd were doing during this match- so for those that thought it I really hope they come to a Premier League/Football League match just to see their eyes melt. I thought this match was pretty good, it wasn't the best match but within the confines of the 6-Woman Tag and the limited Bellas I thought all in all it was pretty good. It's interesting just from me looking on that Paige didn't get the win on either night because I thought she was the most likely (notwithstanding a Charlotte call-up) to be facing Nikki for the Strap at Extreme Rules.

Rusev v Goldust
The only thing that surprised me about this was they'd given Rusev an actual match as opposed to him just kicking Goldust's head off and then "Accolading" him. I don't think he should have let the Accolade go of his own accord- because he should be absolutely fuming and have to be dragged off by half a dozen refs and a load of agents.

Randy Orton, Ryback & Roman Reigns v Seth Rollins, Kane & Big Show
Given how good the RAW had been before, if you'd had cut off RAW after the Cena match and handshake (slap) it'd have been a truly great RAW. This match just felt like a huge anti-climax. I said it on Twitter and I'll say it again, why would they have Roman wrestle in front of a crowd where they know he'll be booed, with the last image of the whole RAW being him getting booed. They needed to shield (pun intended) Roman from that kind of exposure. I think it felt like such an Anti-Climax because the way they built it as a mystery partner I for one was anticipating an NXT call-up, so when you heard Roman's music it was like your heart just sunk. That said it was an alright match, but the crowd just couldn't get into it (understandably) just because the 6-Man has become such an overused match type. I'd love someone to work out the number of 6 Mans there's been involving Authority Members since the Authority became a "thing".

Thanks for reading as always, I can't tell you the final figure for Mania Week for definite yet because this is of course a part of it but I just want to say thanks to any and all of you who have read any of the blogs I've done this week. I'm always a pessimist so I was expecting this week to lead balloon and I'd lose a load of Twitter followers in the process because of the persistent blog plugs. But instead I've had my best Month yet on my Blog which I thought wouldn't happen for a while when I got 702 on a single blog in February. I was aiming for 2000 by the End of this Mania Month- and I won't tweet out the figure until it's officially March but let's just say the response to this Week of Blogs has been mind-blowing. Of course if you haven't feel free to check over all of the blogs I've done this week and if one catches your eye feel free to read it- they're not going anywhere. Thanks again, and I'm now going to go into a blog induced coma.