RAW Review: 6th April

Hello! It's another RAW Review- and apologies if this one is a tiny bit rushed but I've got a lot of stuff going on today, I'm still going to try my best to make this as entertaining and insightful as ever- that can be taken in a lot of different ways.

This RAW was the one if anything I was more interested in, because once the Mania hype had gone away it would be interesting to see if they could carry on the momentum once they'd fully escaped the umbrella of Mania Week- and with them facing stiff competition from the NCAA thing let's see if WWE did indeed keep up the momentum.

Seth Rollins & Others, Randy Orton Promo
Both Promos were alright, I'm not going to fluff it and say Rollins is a great promo yet- because he isn't; but he is improving without a shadow of a doubt. I still don't like Orton as a Babyface Promo wise- it may be because I'll always compare him to his late 00s run as a heel promo wise but him as a babyface does very little for me when he isn't trying to kill someone. Most importantly though...................................................................... KANE WAS THERE DAMMIT.

Randy Orton v Kane
Randy won..... BUT KANE WAS THERE!

Rollins, Kane Backstage Promo
You know what this RAW needed? A lot more Kane.... HE WAS THERE, HE WAS THERE, HE WAS THERE.

Seth Rollins v Neville
I loved the pairing for this, I'll talk about it more with Cena a bit later- but fresh pairings stop fans getting jaded; and this a pairing that promised a lot. The thing about this match was they booked themselves into a corner because Neville is new to the Main Roster he couldn't get a lot of offense in otherwise it'd have made Rollins look weak being beaten up by a "new guy"- that said and with that in mind I thought they did pretty well in this match. We've had so many NXTers come up with squash matches and the crowd just stopped caring about them pretty quickly- so provided they do keep the ball rolling with Neville and they don't "Ascension" him it's good to see them going another way with him and trying to give him a proper rub in terms of who he's going toe to toe with pretty much off the bat.

John Cena v Stardust- US Title
Once again this was a fresh pairing, which in and of itself makes the match more watchable from a fans point of view. Contrast this to the Big Show v Reigns match where you've seen it so many times before you can pretty much call the match from your sofa and you'll get my point. If they're running with the Open Challenge thing I really hope it's  Regal next week- but judging from the pattern emerging in terms of opposition it'll probably be R-Truth. The match itself was pretty good- I have caught up on the Jericho Podcast last night, and while I disagreed with some of what he said, one thing I thought Cena was bang on about was the stature of the US Title and trying to elevate guys like Ambrose and Stardust- I don't know why he called Stardust Cody Rhodes, after all Cody was killed in a horrible car crash.

Paige & Naomi v The Bellas
After a couple of vague attempts to try and Give Divas the Spotlight we were back to meaningless Tag Matches with very little story to them. Naomi is still far from perfect, she's still a bit sloppy in the ring which she should definitely try and fix because she also has pretty much no personality. Her whole character is she's married to an Uso and she has a butt, LIKE HER!

Primetime Players' Early Halloween
This was bizarre, I didn't necessarily dislike it- but they aren't in a feud with anyone and they didn't have a match later on in the night against either of the teams they made fun of- so just... Why? You know what would have been really great, If Darren Young had dressed like he had a personality.

Ryback v Luke Harper
Wrestling- or Sports Entertainment is primarily about suspension of disbelief, so when you announce Orton, Ryback and the other one are going to be in the Main Event as well it takes out any suspension of disbelief you have in terms of near falls etc. I thought this match was pretty good in all honesty, I'm weighing up in my mind who's more underused Harper or Cesaro because both guys' ringwork is stellar and if they're built right they could both be top heels in the company in my opinion.

New Day Promo
New Day's new mission is to give The Clap to people, Hide yo Kids, Hide yo Wife. In all seriousness I like New Day as a heel faction- and provided they let them get a proper shot at getting over I think they'll succeed because they do have a personality- which is more than can be said for some people who've gotten much larger pushes.

New Day v The Lucha Dragons
Kalisto and Kofi was the pairing I really wanted to see when we heard the "LUCHA, LUCHA, LUCHA" hit- so of course we had Big E & Xavier wrestling the match. It was an alright match, they need to work out a better pairing for New Day to have proper back and forth's with- it looks like that'll be the PTP while the Lucha's go after KiddSaro; which I'm not necessarily against and it'll be interesting to see how they book it in the weeks leading up to AxTreme Rules.

Roman Reigns v Big Show
...

Pimp Kane
The Ladies love Kane, I'm sure he was in quite a few places that night. Oh Yeah we've gone back to stupid Divas Battle Royals in order to get #1 Contenders rather than giving them a meaningful storyline with a proper build- Give Divas a Chance indeed.

Sheamus v Mark Henry
I'm not sure how much of those "reckless" rumours attached to Sheamus were valid at all. I did watch the Sheamus match on Smackdown against Bryan and I for one loved it. Sheamus beating the living hell out of people as a heel is entertaining in my book, besides it looked at least to me like Bryan was cut open on the headbutts he was delivering. Anyway onto tonight- this wasn't as good as I'd have liked it to be, and I wish Sheamus pretty much dominated Henry to keep his character going in a proper upswing of dominance. That said he did eventually win, some people dislike Sheamus, but when Sheamus is a heel I love him- so I'm all for this new Sheamus.

Miz v Mizdow
Would it kill them to have Mizdow actually win a match once in a while? Unless he's getting a rematch at Extreme Rules which is likely given the dodgy finish there was no reason for him to lose. It's going to get to the point where the fans simply stop caring about Mizdow because he's a loser, he lost the Battle Royal, he lost last night- and I seriously wouldn't put it past them to have Mizdow lose again if there is a rematch.

Randy Orton v Ryback v Roman Reigns
This match was actually alright, it was definitely better than anticipated in that they kept it pretty short in comparison to what I thought it would be. Everyone got their moments, I'm surprised they're giving Ryback the kind of exposure they are given he was a nothing at Mania but I'm not against it because I do like Ryback. Orton winning is annoying to an extent just because Orton shouldn't be anywhere near the Main Event scene at this stage. The finish was pretty good, and it kept everyone looking rather strong- I'm just hoping Big Show KOing Roman isn't sign of yet another Reigns/Show match at Extreme Rules.

The aftermath was pretty good with the the finish swiftly transitioning into a Curb Stomp because it kept Rollins looking like a dangerous heel, which at this stage is best for Seth given the way he's been booked since he turned.

This RAW did have a few good moments, but they were counteracted by things like Reigns/Show and it just meant this RAW felt quite samey. That said they're going to be in my neck of the woods next week and hopefully the hot crowd encourages them to up their games yet again and at least try and get it on par with the first 2 hours of last weeks RAW.

Thanks for reading as always, this is up earlier than usual because I've got a Fulham game tonight so If you did read it and enjoy it I'd appreciate you sharing it while I'm away- but don't fear because when I'm back I'm gonna ram this down your throats anyway. Thanks again, going back to doing 1 Wrasslin Blog a week feels wrong to me now.